BOOK REVIEW © by IAAF The Complete History 32:1/2; 163-167, 2017 of Cross-Country Running from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day by Andrew Boyd Hutchinson New York: Carrel Books, 2018, 294, pp., ISBN: 978-1-63144-076-2 (print), 978-1-63144-077-9 (Ebook) hrough the 1980s, cross country run- ning was a fixed part of every serious T distance runner’s winter preparation and a place among the first three of the world cross country championships was sure to bring an athlete great prestige. The main reason for this was that many considered the champion- ships to be the most difficult race to win, even more difficult than an Olympic title. At major track events, the distance runners are sepa- rated into different races, i.e. 5000m, 10,000m, 3000m steeplechase and marathon, but in the absence of the short course races, introduced only in 1998, the cross country championships brought together all the world’s top runners in just one race. Thus, the competition was quite fierce. It’s no wonder, then, that numerous world cross country champions have won major championship medals or set world records and that several have gone on to Olympic gold: Alain Mimoun (marathon, 1956), Gaston Roel- (from 1903 until 1972) and in the early years of ants (steeplechase, 1964), Mohammed Gam- the IAAF World Cross Country Championships moudi (5000, 1968), Carlos Lopes (marathon, (since 1973). These includes flat grass surfac- 1984), John Ngugi (5000m, 1988), Khalid Skah es, which is usual today, as well as extensive (10,000m, 1992), Deratu Tulu (10,000, 1992 stretches of muddy ground, sometimes gravel and 2000), Kenenisa Bekele (10,000m, 2004 road, hilly passages and even obstacles, such and 2008) and Tirunesh Dibaba (10,000, 2008 as fences, tree trunks and bales of straw. and 2012, and 5,000 2008). In the 1990s cross country lost ground Another reason for the high esteem of cross against other running disciplines due to its per- country in the past was the difficulty of the ception as a relic of the era of non-commercial courses which during the period of the Inter- amateur athletics. As the big city marathons, national Cross Country Championships (ICC) which take place in the traditional cross coun- New Studies in Athletics · no. 1/2.2017 163 The Complete History of Cross-Country Running from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day try season - i.e. in autumn and early spring mid-1800s in England is fascinating. This book - have diverted attention away from cross details the growth and development of cross country, road running has become much more country as well as the people, teams, places, financially attractive and events that shaped the sport as the de- cades went by.” Perhaps another reason for the loss of pub- lic interest, at least in Europe, has been the In the first chapter, Hutchinson points out dominance of African runners. While in the that “the first recorded evidence of cross coun- 1960s and 1970s European runners took most try running as a sport appeared at the dawn of international titles, since 1981 the senior men’s the Victorian Age. In the northwest Midlands of team race in both the short and long races at England, rolling fields, and wet, marshy grass- the World Cross Country Championships has land cultured a schoolboy’s game that would been won every year by Ethiopia or Kenya. transform from a rebellious, spirited undertak- On the women’s side, only one non-African ing into one of the world’s most accessible nation, Portugal, has won the long team race pastimes.” At the Shrewsbury School as early since 1991. Since 1980, African born runners, as 1819 the lads took up a chase called “Hare in some cases competing for European coun- and Hounds”. These informal pursuits grew tries, have won 23 of 39 senior women’s long- into more organised events and running clubs course individual championships and 35 on formed. Oxford University introduced its first the men’s side. interschool cross country race in 1850. In recent years attempts have been made In the United States, the first amateur cross to revive interest in cross-country running. One country championships was held in 1883 effort was the IAAF’s Global Seminar on Cross when nineteen runners started a 4.25-mile Country Running, which took place in Bel- race in Mott Haven, New York City. A thousand grade on December 9, 2013, the day after the spectators were watching as sixteen men fin- 2013 SPAR European Cross Country Cham- ished with one T. F. Delaney winning in a time pionships. of 26:30 minutes. In such an environment, the publication From the mid-nineteenth to the turn of the of The Complete History of Cross-Country twentieth century the sport grew in Ireland, Running from the Nineteenth Century to Scotland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. the Present Day by Andrew Boyd Hutchin- In the United States, fourteen running clubs son could also be regarded as a step towards established the Amateur Athletic Association. drawing more attention to cross country run- The first intercollegiate competition took place ning. Hutchinson is a cross country coach, a between the Universities of Pennsylvania and high-school history teacher, and an avid run- Cornell. By the end of the 1890s, cross country ner himself. His disappointment of the lack of running had also become popular among high a history book dealing with cross country led school runners. him to trace the growth of the sport, decade by decade, from its emergence in the early nine- The International Cross Country Union teenth century to the present. (ICCU) staged the International Cross Country Championships, the first annual international The book opens with a foreword by Craig championships for the sport in 1903. The dis- Virgin, winner of the 1980 and 1981 IAAF World tance was eight miles and the winner was the Cross Country titles. Virgin calls Hutchinson’s English runner, Alfred Shrubb. Although it be- book “an incredible compilation of sport- gan life as a contest between the four Home specific history. The fact that he traces cross Nations of the United Kingdom, the event be- country back to its infant days in the early to came increasingly international starting with 164 New Studies in Athletics · no. 1/2.2017 The Complete History of Cross-Country Running from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day the admittance of the first non-UK country in career, Sports Illustrated called Lash “the first 1907 (France), the addition of several other Great American distance runner” and “possi- continental European countries in the 1920s, bly the best US cross-country runner ever.” and the introduction of Tunisia as the first African nation in 1958. The Championships Before World War II, the leading Americans featured only a senior men’s race until 1961, were Fred Wilt and Bob Black. Wilt captured at which point an under-21s event was intro- one NCAA, one Big Ten and three national duced. After some years as an unsanctioned cross titles. Black was a nationals winner competition, a women’s race was officially twice. staged for the first time in 1967. Other famous world-class cross-country Back in the USA, the inaugural Dipsea trail runners from the era of the ICC Championships race in California in 1904 captured the public’s dealt with in more or less detail in Hutchinson’s imagination as no other footrace had done be- book are: fore as all major San Francisco newspapers • Jack Holden (England), the first four-time gave it feature coverage. The race took place winner of the International Cross Country over a “suggested” but not mandatory course. Championships (between 1933, 1934, Slower runners were granted a head start. On 1935, and 1939); the east coast, the first race at what would • Alain Mimoun (France, International become the Mecca of venues, Van Cortlandt Cross Country Champion in 1949, 1954, Park, the 1912 New York state high school and 1956); championship was staged with two New York • Frank Sando (England, International City policemen mounted on horses leading the Cross Country Champion in 1955, 1957, runners around the course. and 1956); • Gaston Roelants (Belgium, International That year, the Olympic Games introduced Cross Country Champion in 1967, its first cross country race. Hannes Kolehm- 1969, 1972); ainen (FIN) was the gold medallist over twelve • Dave Bedford (England, International kilometres. In a “stellar showdown” he de- Cross Country Champion in 1971). feated the French runner Jean Bouin, who had won his two International Cross Country titles As might be expected, Hutchinson cov- in succession in 1911 and 1912. The team gold ers the history of cross country running in his medal was won by Sweden. own country in some detail. In the 1970s, the sport became extremely popular in the Unit- Cross country was contested as a team ed States, one catalyst being the success of and individual event also at the 1920 and 1924 Steve Prefontaine but there were contributions Summer Olympics. Finland, led by Paavo Nur- from visiting university students like John Nge- mi, captured the gold in 1920 and 1924. Dur- no (KEN), Nick Rose (GBR) as well as the 1972 ing the 1924 race in the Paris heat wave, only Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter. 15 of the 38 competitors reached the finish. Spectators were shocked by the attrition rate In 1982, Pat Porter surprised every one by and Olympic officials decided to remove cross beating a world-class field of more than 500 country running from future Olympic Games.