| Chapter 1 1889-1914 (page 5)
5000 metres team race in Paris.
Prior to joining Sefton, Jack had been a member of Liverpool Harriers,
and also Southport Harriers. It was with the latter club that he won the
Northern Cross Country Championships in 1901. his strength and stamina
were remarkable, despite his his long and almost skinny frame. there is
a famous of his taking a challenge to race against the best miler in
each of the seven divisions of Liverpool City Police. This event took
place at the Annual Liverpool City Police Athletics Meeting. The Police
milers were to run 7x1 mile relay, whilst jack ran the whole of the
seven miles. Seven prizes were on offer; one for each of the mile
stages. Jack Rimmer won all seven! He was a member of the much feared
Sefton team of Rimmer, J.Roberts and S. Francom and W.T.Clarke
which won the Haackenschmidt Cup for a marathon race in Scotland, in
1901 and 1911. They must have been a formidable squad for any club to to
take on with three Liverpool and District, and two northern Champions amongst
them. J.T.Rimmer's victories were so numerous that his running career
merits a book to it's self. He is probably the greatest middle and long
distance runner ever produced on Merseyside. The author joined Sefton in
1954 and it a treasured memory, that he was introduced to, and shook
hands with Jack Rimmer, who in his 77th year was still President of the
Club.
J.T.Rimmer and W.T.Clarke were of course, the stars of this era, but let
us not forget the Club made up of many members, who, no matter how
humble or average an athlete, have all played their part in
the continuing history of Sefton Harriers. the author in his 35 years as
a Seftonian, has known many members during that time. They have come and
gone. Some have stayed longer than others, but each one has added
something; has woven his particular strand into the unbroken thread of
over 100 years history.
The athletes of course are the people who put the name of the Club in
the public eye. To talk in the modern parlance, they are the ones given
the "high profile", and that is right. That is the nature of
things; but clubs do not exist on the track and cross-country course.
There is an infrastructure in all athletic clubs, without which the
sport would not function. I refer of course to the administration side
of things. in the process of preparing this history, it has been a
privilege to spend many hours reading and absorbing as much written and
printed matter as I could, related to
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