LONG wrestling apprentice-ships paid dividends last week when Callum Lowry won the Under 15 Years/8-stones title at Hesket Newmarket, and David Atkinson won the 12-stones Championship at Wolsingham Show, writes Roger Robson.

Lowry, the son of former 14-stones champion Mark Lowry, is only 14, but has 11 years of wrestling experience under his belt. He had to battle every inch of the way in the championship against wrestlers from the academies at Kendal, Milnthorpe and Glasgow. He inside-clicked Kendal's Sam Wilkinson in the semi-final and hiped Thomas Mason of Milnthorpe Academy in the final.

David Atkinson has been wrestling for a similar length of time and was on the form of his life at Grayrigg Show and Wolsingham with double wins at both events.

The core of his wrestling is still a devastating inside-hipe, but now he has a battery of chips to take advantage of his opponents' reaction to that threat.

In the Championship final with his friend and training partner Andrew Carlile he loaded him up on the hipe for the first fall, but the second came from an outside-hipe and twist as Carlile strove to avoid the expected danger.

Earlier in the season old warrior Alan Jones found a way of felling Atkinson and commented that by rights these young lads should be felling him now. At Wolsingham in the 14-stondss final, Atkinson gave him his answer by standing up straight when Jones slipped out of holds and then buttocking him twice.

Andrew Carlile featured in two Championship finals in a week and lost both, but he can take pride in the way that he felled the precocious talent of John Harrington in the 12-stones semi-final.

In their previous encounters it looked as though Carlile had lost confidence with the younger wrestler who seemed able to put the hank in and eventually win the bout. At a stroke, Carlile put the doubts back in Harrington's mind when he swept him over backwards with a salto, a throw borrowed from the freestyle wrestling.

Harrington was suddenly less keen to play the hank and after much manoeuvring Carlisle felled him with an outside-stroke.

The Kendal area's strength lies in the heavier weights and at Grayrigg Show it was an all Kendal academy final in the 15-stones when John Wilson returned to the ring to show what buttocking is all about against Grasmere Heavyweight Champion, Trevor Hodgson.

Results: Grayrigg Show. Girls 1 T. Hodgson; 2 H. Hodgson; 3 C. Hodgson. Under-12: 1 A. Thompson; 2 J. Hodgson; 3 B. Dixon. Under-15: 1 G. Brocklebank; 2 A. Thompson; 3 C. Proctor. Under-18: 1 J. Harrington; 2 G. Brocklebank; 3 A. Thompson. 11-stones: 1 J. Harrington; 2 S. Dixon; 3 W. Hayhurst. 13-stones: 1 D. Atkinson; 2 J. Harrington; 3 S. Dixon. 15-stones: 1 J. Wilson; 2 T. Hodgson; 3 D. Atkinson. All weights: 1 D. Atkinson; 2 J. Harrington; 3 T. Hodgson.

Lowick Show. Under-12: 1 B. Brocklebank; 2 P. Maher; 3 W. Hayhurst. Under-15: 1 G. Brocklebank; 2 J. Gill; 3 W. Hayhurst. Under-18: 1 G. Brocklebank; 2 W. Hayhurst; 3 J. Gill. 12-stones: 1 .P Barnes; 2 G. Brocklebank; 3 W. Hayhurst. All Weights: 1 T. Brocklebank; 2 R. Lowery; 3 P. Barnes.

Dates: Sunday: 12 noon, Stanhope, U12/U15/U18/11/13/AW; 3pm, Whitfield, U12/U15/U18/12/AW.

Thursday: 3pm, Loweswater, U12/U15/U18/12/AW.