Athletics: Liverpool’s Murphy conquers capital

Apr 17 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool’s Murphy conquers capital

BERNIE MURPHY (LPS) was the first Merseyside runner home in the London Marathon recording 2.29 in 43rd place and taking third prize in the over-40 category.

He was followed home by Colin Potts (Liverpool Running Club) who secured 76th position three minutes later – the 11th over-35 overall.

Mark Clarehugh (SouthportWaterloo) 2.37.13, beat Liverpool’s James Meldrum by 10 seconds while Samantha Dean-Howard was the first Merseyside female home in 3.12.38.

A trio of athletes from Liverpool Running Club narrowly failed to beat three hours, Maurice Collins (3.03.26), Jimmy Price (3.07.14) and David Moran (3.07.17) providing good support for Potts.

Wirral’s first runner home was Kevin Buxton in 2.48 (eighth over-50) while Liverpool’s Gordon Brown’s 3.43.19 earned him fourth place in the over-70 category.

SouthportWaterloo opened their Mid-Lancs League account at Wigan. Jordon Kelly long jumped 5.63 and triple jumped 11.95 for two wins in the under-17s category.

Other winners included the Sandgrounders’ Ellon Hart in the 300m (46.1) and the Liverpool pairing of Kath Upton (3,000m – 10.10.5) and Zoe Woodward (800m – 2.20.5).

Matthew Crehan (Wigan), who has been training with Ray Vose’s group at St Helens, took the 3,000m in 9.29.

Crehan’s mother, Sue, competed in the Olympic Marathon in 1984 while his father, Jim, was a county standard runner on cross country.

Lauren Brennan has been appointed juniors ladies’ captain at SouthportWaterloo while brothers Pat and Joe Vis are joint junior men’s skippers.

The revised Merseyside County Fell Running team for the Inter-Counties Championships at Belmont near Bolton on May 10 has been confirmed as John Hunt (Wirral), Alan Ashton, James Meldrum (Liverpool) and Tony Smith (St Helens-Sutton) while the women’s quartet will consist of Liz Fairhall (Spectrum), Sarah Jackson (Liverpool), Julie Finn (St Helens-Sutton) and Samantha Dean-Howard (SouthportWaterloo).

This weekend’s fixtures include the first round of the Cheshire League on Sunday with Wirral at Ashton Under Lyne, St Helens-Sutton at Crewe and West Cheshire travelling to Stockport.

Liverpool Harriers stage the Ernie Gallagher Memorial Meeting for young athletes at Wavertree on Saturday and the Melbourne meeting on Sunday. Other events include the St George’s Day 10k and 3k at Salford the Garstang Gallop near Preston.

The Merseyside County AA Annual General Meeting takes place at Wavertree Sports Centre on Friday, April 25 (7pm). All existing officers are standing for re-election.

The main business of the evening is the adoption of a new constitution incorporating the changes which have taken place at regional and national level.