Blackpool and Fylde's hopes of successfully defending their Northern crossc-ountry title next Saturday took a severe blow when they tumbled to third place in the St. Asaph to Rhyl road race on Saturday.
Last year they won the 6½ mile event as a preliminary to the Northern, and the form should work out well again this year in that the winners, Wallasey, will prove a much bigger danger to the leading teams than the championship holders.
Wallasey were in tremendous form, with Ron Barlow third, Brian Woolford back to form in fifth place, and John Wright sixth.
Blackpool had Brian Craig in record-breaking form to win the individual race, but they had to rely on a junior, Tony Byrne, to back him up in seventh place, with the rest of the team well beaten. Craig cut 45 seconds of the record he set last year.
Details:
INDIVIDUALS: B. Craig (Blackpool), 32min. 57sec. 1; P. Killeen (Birchfield), 34-18. 2; R. Barlow (Wallasey), 34-28, 3; E. Austin (Worcester), 34-43, 4; B. Woolford (Wallasey), 34- 46, 5; J. Wright (Wallasey), 34-52, 6; A. J. Byrne (Blackpool), 35-12, 7; B. Browning (Birchfield). 35-25. 8; R.. Billington (Birchfield), 35- 36, 9; M. Biddle (Wirral), 35-37, 10.
TEAMS. - Wallasey (3-5-6), 14 points, 1; Birchfield (2-8-9), 19 points, 2; Blackpool (1-7-26), 34 poitns, 3.
Ends
Source - Daily Telegraph - Monday, 11/02/1963 by Peter Keeling
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