Cross-country running is described from the earliest
times of foot messengers to boys’ games of hunt the
hare or fox. Cross-country running needs little explanation; participants run long distances off rough
ground roads or tracks. It is a competitive sports for
men and women and at one time enjoyed Olympic status, but many people run cross-country simply because they enjoy it and for the exercise.
History
In Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, day-long
races across country were held. In Europe, at least as
early as the middle of the 14th century, the sport of
cross-country running emanated from hunting. A
poem written sometime around 1560 records “when we
play hunt the fox, I out run all the boyes in the schoole.”
Important to the sport in northern England and
southern Scotland was the adaptation of the 18th-century sport of steeplechasing (a race to a church steeple
on horseback). The 1830s saw many foot steeplechases,
particularly in the lowlands of Scotland. Ireland had
races at Cavan and Tipperary in the early 1840s. The
courses included fences, hurdles, ditches, brooks, and
even the swimming of rivers. The distance commonly
run was three-quarters to 1.5 miles.
By the beginning of the 1800s, the sport was a pastime at many English schools. By the 1840s, the sport
reached Oxford University where two clubs, the Kangaroo Club and the Charitable Grinders, organized
steeplechase runs.
The paper-chase stems from at least 1856 when it is
mentioned in the journal Household Words. Paperchasing consisted of laying a trail of paper by two runners called the hares, one of whom would lay false
trails. They were followed after an interval of 10 minutes by runners called hounds. The paper-chase survived only until about 1930.
Cross-country running quickly spread to several
other countries. In the United States, hare and hound
clubs appeared in the Boston, New York, and Philadelphia areas in the late 1870s. Australia had several clubs
in Melbourne and Sydney in the late 1880s. but cross
country in New Zealand did not develop until after
1917. In South Africa, there were paper-chases in Durban as early as 1883 over a course of earth banks and
hurdles.
Northwest Europe also took up cross-country running. Championship races commenced in France in
1889, and between 1896 and 1925 there were even professional cross-country championships in France.
Neighboring Belgium ran its field race in 1896; Denmark held a 15-kilometer (9.4-mile) race in 1901 (the
distance was reduced to 8 kilometers in 1918). Sweden
began its championships in 1907 with 8-kilometer
races. Finland entered the scene in 1913 and Paavo
Nurmi, one of the greatest runners of all time, clocked
up seven victories. In the same year, Germany ran the
Waldlauf (forest run) over 7,500 meters (4.7 miles), increasing the distance to 10,000 meters (6.2 miles) by
1920. The Dutch championships began in 1919 with 5-
kilometer (3.1-mile) races, but within five years the
distance became 10 kilometers.
Cross-country running was introduced in the
Olympics at the Stockholm Games in 1912. The 1920
race was held at Antwerp over a one-lap course that
started and finished in the stadium. The race at Paris in
1924 was a disaster. It was run over 10,650 meters (6.6
miles) from and to the stadium on a very hot day (36
degrees Celsius [97 degrees Fahrenheit]). Forty runners started, but only teams from Finland, the United
States, and France finished, in that order. Only 15 runners finished the race; the remainder were taken to the
hospital. After this disaster, cross country was dropped
from the Olympics; it has since been considered but
not readopted.
The International CC race between 1929 and 1972
saw various other countries competing on an irregular
basis. Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Luxembourg competed in Paris in 1929. The 1950s and 1960s saw interest
from the North African countries of Tunisia, Morocco,
and Algeria. The 1960s were also notable for other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, New
Zealand, Canada, and the United States taking part.
The Balkan states introduced the Balkan championships in 1957. The following year the International
Amateur Athletic Federation agreed with the International Cross Country Union (CCU) that the latter’s
championships be an IAAF-permitted competition.
Teams now compete from all continents. In 1990 the
IAAF introduced the IAAF Cross-Country Challenge,
11 races in which runners could take part and score
points, if 8 or more nations took part, with prizes for
the first 12 for both men and women.
Women’s Cross Country
Women’s cross country can be traced back to the late
1870s, when middle-class women in the London and
Dublin areas ran hare and hound races. France was the
first to organize a national championship, which began
in 1919. In England cross-country running began in
1923, with national championships following in 1930,
while Belgian women were competing in the 1920s. The
first women’s international was at Brussels when France
beat Belgium in 1930. At Douai, Belgium, in 1931 there
was a three-cornered match between France, Belgium,
and England, won by the latter.A return match was held
in England the following year and another in 1938.
The English Cross Country Union (ECCU) instituted a women’s 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) international
championship in 1967 at Barry, South Wales, in conjunction with the men’s event. Up to 1975 the United
States and England vied for team honors; the Soviet
Union then became dominant. The following year the
course was lengthened to approximately 5 kilometers
(cross-country courses are not measured as accurately
as formal running tracks). Norwegian Grete Waitz won
five titles in six years between 1978 and 1983; Lynn
Jennings of the United States captured three victories
in the period 1990 to 1992, when 6 kilometers (3.75
miles) was the usual distance.
In 1990 the first under-20 junior competition was
held, and since that time either the Ethiopians or
Kenyans have usually taken the team prize. Continued
interest among younger competitors suggests that
cross-country has a secure, if modest, future.
—DAVID TERRY
Bibliography: Bloom, M. (1977) Cross Country Running.
Mountain View, CA: World Publications. Fraser, I. (1968)
The Annals of Thames Hare and Hounds. London:
Thames & Hudson.