Belgrave Harriers the English National Cross-Country Championships ______
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Belgrave Harriers The English National Cross-Country Championships _______________________________________________________________________________________________ The English National Cross-Country Championships — Men The first ever ‘National’ Cross-Country Championship was held at Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest in 1876, organized by Thames Hare & Hounds. Invitations had been sent to Birmingham Athletic Club, Spartan Harriers and South London Harriers, but there was the possibility of the race being additionally thrown open to any other cross-country club. In fact, just the three London clubs took up the challenge. With a total of 32 runners between them, in pouring rain, after the trail-layers had run out of paper to mark the way, every single runner went off course. The race was declared void. The organizer, Thames Hare & Hounds founder member Walter Rye, made sure that successive races went off more successfully and, unsurprisingly, they were held in his club’s own territory – Roehampton – covering, variously, Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, Malden, Morden, and other places that we know so well. In 1883 the National Cross-Country Union was formed to ensure that Amateur Athletic Association laws were followed, and the more appropriate title of the English Cross-County Union was assumed in 1933. The current organizing body, the English Cross-Country Association (ECCA), was established in 1992 following the amalgamation of the former men’s and women’s bodies, the English Cross-Country Union and the Women’s Cross- Country and Road Running Association. However, under whatever banner the races have been held, they have almost always been known as the ‘National.’ No championships were held from 1915 to 1919 due to the First World War and then, on resumption in 1920, Belgrave Harriers at last sent along a team to take part in the race in Windsor Great Park where King George V was to present the medals, specially struck at the Mint and bearing his image; this was in recognition of all that the sport had done for the Services during the war. Gradually the club’s fortunes changed, due in no small way to the leadership of inspirational Captain Bert Footer. A leap took the Club from nowhere to 6th team place in 1930, to the third place in 1933, and then claret and gold colours were never out of the medals until the break in competition caused by the Second World War. A victory in 1935 was the first win by a Southern club since Surrey Athletic Club took the title in 1914, and a second win came in 1939. When hostilities were over, the Club began the post war era just where it had left off seven years earlier with 1st - 2nd - 1st. Is it conceivable that such success could have been carried through sixteen seasons from 1933 to 1948, but for the war? Such achievement cannot last forever, and the ‘golden years’ were replaced by ‘solid’ ones until the arrival of 1962 winner (then in Blackpool & Fylde Harriers’ colours) Gerry North, who had migrated South and joined Belgrave. The Club was then rarely out of the top ten in the ‘60s, and for three years, from 1966, occupied that most melancholy of positions – 4th. An era of ever increasing field sizes during the ‘70s and ‘80s, saw the Club’s standing slowly sink away again until, in the ‘90s, Belgrave occupied their lowest ever position of 105th, followed by a whole series of incomplete teams; but things were stirring again as the millennium was neared. Much to the amusement of some, Belgrave, who were by now mighty on the track and had been four times winners of the ‘National’ in the distant past, were awarded the trophy for the most improved club in 1999. They had leapt from nowhere to 15th – and it would have been better still, but for overzealous officialdom ruling out a highly placed runner. Greater things still – even medals – were hoped for in 2000, forlornly as it turned out; but top ten positions had been achieved again and eventually a fifth ‘National’ win was chalked up in 2004. In early days, through to the beginning of the 1950s, the race distance was usually about 10 miles. It was dropped to approximately 9 miles thereafter, and to 7½ miles or 12 kilometres in the ‘90s. Notes regarding the following statistics: From 1920 to 1929 the positions shown are believed to be the scoring positions and not the actual positions in the race. There is a difference in the two, as to calculate team scores, individual runners (i.e. those not entered as part of a team) were first removed from the result. This practice continued until 1950. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Version 9.0 | 30 September 2020 | 21:45 www.belgraveharriers.info Page 1 of 13 Belgrave Harriers The English National Cross-Country Championships _______________________________________________________________________________________________ From 1951 individuals were no longer removed before calculating team scores – but other runners deemed to be ineligible for team scoring, for some reason, were sometimes removed. It could be that an athlete was not included on the original entry or, for a few years after 2000, simply that an athlete was not eligible to represent Great Britain & N. Ireland. To try to clarify the situation, up to and including 1938, plus 1949, we have shown the published scoring positions before each runner’s name (often that’s the only position we know), but if we have managed to find an actual position, then we additionally show this in brackets – e.g., for 1930, ‘17 (20) H.E. Footer’. From 1939 onwards, when we almost always have a runner’s actual position, we show this preceding the runner’s name but where there are any differences between actual and scoring, we have included additional detail to show how the team score was calculated – e.g., for 1946, ‘scoring – 5, 11, 13, 21, 22, 24’. The limit of nine on the number of runners from each club who may take part was removed in 1996. Sometimes these extra runners were removed before team scores were calculated but very often, and now, we believe, always, they are not removed. This has the effect of hugely inflating the scores of teams whose runners are further down the field. We need to remember that this also greatly affects our ‘most runs’ and ‘most consecutive runs’ in the individual statistics. In earlier times, the hurdle of gaining selection for the team on the day first had to be overcome. _______________________________ References: Athletics (1946-1949). Athletics Weekly (1950-) Barbat, Anthony, the “National”, http://national.crosscountrychampionship.uk/ (accessed: 25 Sep 2020). Belgravian, The. England Athletics, English Cross-Country Association, http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/ (accessed: 25 Sep 2020). England Athletics, English Cross-Country Association Handbook (2013-2014). GBR Athletics, http://www.gbrathletics.com/ (accessed: 22 Sep 2020). Ryan, James, & Fraser, Ian H., The Annals of Thames Hare & Hounds (1968). SportSoft Results, https://www.race-results.co.uk/results (accessed: 25 Sep 2020). ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Venues before Belgrave’s participation: 1876 – Buckhurst Hill, Epping Forest, 1877 to 1883 – Roehampton, South West London, 1884 – Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, 1885 – Manchester, 1886 – Croydon, 1887 – Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, 1888 – Manchester, 1889 – Kempton Park, Surrey, 1890 – Sutton Coldfield, 1891 – Prenton, Birkenhead, 1892 – Ockham, Surrey, 1893 – Redditch, 1894 – Blackpool, 1895 – Wembley, 1896 – Water Orton, Warwickshire, 1897 – Trafford Park, Manchester, 1898 – Horton, Northants., 1899 – Wembley, 1900 – Rotherham, 1901 – Leicester, 1902 – Lingfield, 1903 – Haydock, Lancs.,1904 – Wolverhampton, 1905 – Lingfield, 1906 – Haydock, Lancs., 1907 – Colwall, Herefordshire, 1908 – Newbury, Berkshire, 1909 – Haydock, Lancs., 1910 – Derby, 1911 – Taplow, Bucks., 1912 – Haydock, Lancs., 1913 – Wolverhampton, 1914 – Chesham, Bucks. 1887 — 1914 No Belgrave entry. 1915 — 1919 No races held during First World War period. 1920 - - Windsor Great Park — 128 A.L. Porter, 198 O. Horwood, 207 J.W. Macher, 224 A.E. Macher; incomplete team; 271 runners; 17 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 54 pts.; individual winner J. Guillemot (France/CASG Paris), first Briton C.T. Clibbon (Birchfield). 1921 - - Doncaster Racecourse — no Belgrave entry; 205 runners; at least 7 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 54 pts.; individual winner W.W. Freeman (Birchfield H). 1922 - - Hereford Racecourse — no Belgrave entry; 236 runners; at least 19 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 41 pts.; individual winner J. Guillemot (France/CASG Paris), first Briton H. Eckersley (Warrington AC). 1923 23rd 913 pts. Lord Burnham’s Estate, Beaconsfield, South Bucks. — 91 J.G. Flatt, 105 R.J. Savage, 142 J.J. Crichton, 178 A.E. Smith, 192 J. Pritchard, 205 R.E. Wills; 327 runners; at least 23 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 36 pts.; individual winner C.E. Blewitt (Birchfield H). _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Version 9.0 | 30 September 2020 | 21:45 www.belgraveharriers.info Page 2 of 13 Belgrave Harriers The English National Cross-Country Championships _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 1924 - - Doncaster Racecourse — no Belgrave entry, 219 runners; at least 15 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 53 pts.; individual winner L-Cpl W.M. Cotterell (Royal Corps of Signals AC). 1925 - - Hereford Racecourse — an unknown position beyond 30 H.E. Footer; incomplete team; 245 runners; at least 19 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 78 pts.; individual winner L-Cpl W.M. Cotterell (Royal Corps of Signals AC). 1926 - - Stacey Hill Harm, nr. Wolverton — 42 H.E. Footer, 136 J.G. Flatt; incomplete team; 321 runners; at least 18 teams closed in; team winners Birchfield H 43 pts.; individual winner J.E. Webster (Birchfield H). 1927 - - Crewe Hall Park, Crewe — 56 H.E. Footer; incomplete team; 429 runners; at least 32 teams closed in; team winners Hallamshire H 36 pts.; individual winner E. Harper (Hallamshire H). 1928 17th 711 pts. Leamington — 63 W.G. Webb, 79 H.E.