Held at Weston Park near Telford.

Ah, the National Cross Country Championship!  The oldest national cross country championship in the world.  The first race was held at Buckhurst Hill near Epping in 1876 – there was no winner that year as all 32 runners went off course.  It took until 1927 before it was decided it was safe enough for the women to have a go too.  Hallamshire’s Ernie Harper won the men’s race that year.

So many great athletes have won the event – Gordon Pirie, Dave Bedford, Ron Hill (at Graves Park), Paula Radcliffe, the wonderful Joyce Smith (winner of the first two London Marathons), Eamon Martin, Julian Goater and Brendon Foster.  Steve Ovett was a regular competitor.  Other Sheffield victors have been Hatti Dean, Jane Shields (twice) and Trevor Wright.

Julian Goater winning the 1981 National by nearly two minutes “with barely a speck of mud on me”

The men’s race was traditionally held over 9 miles at the end of February, when the ground is at its most sodden and the mud particularly thick.  Many runners will have a opinion on the “worst National conditions ever”.  Mine was definitely Alton Towers in 2011 when simply moving forward in a straight line at any pace seemed impossible. More recently the distances have changed to 8k for women and 12k for men.

This year’s event was some what different.  Torrential rain in February meant the event had to be postponed.  Cue much comment from the old guard – “cancelling a cross country because of the weather, whatever next?” – but it seemed the main issue was the car parks being underwater.

Fast forward seven months to the rearranged event on a positively balmy September afternoon in Weston Park in Telford with hardly a bit of mud in sight.  The main hazard underfoot seemed to be fallen conkers which did for some of the under 15 girls.

Nine Striders made the trip to Telford – four women and five men.

Seth Kirby and Naeem Stevens had a great tussle in the men’s race, finishing barely 10 seconds apart, ably backed up by Richard Millier, Malcolm Baggaley and Richard Pegg.  Frustratingly the men were one runner short of finishing a full team.

The women finished in an excellent 19th position, led by a stunning run from Abbie Pearse – 16th place in a national championship is hugely impressive. Caroline Brock, Karen Clark and 400 metre specialist Carol Beattie provided great back up to bring the team home.

Striders Results

Women