Cross Country History

The term "cross-country", when used by itself, can refer to:

• Cross-country running, a sport in which teams of runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain
• Cross-country skiing, a winter sport for skiing
• Cross-country equestrianism
• Cross-country mountain biking
• Cross-country flying
• Fell running also known as hill running and mountain running
• Virgin Cross-Country is a rail franchise in the United Kingdom
• A Cross-country jump, a parachute jump

Cross-country running as an organized sport originates from England. In the early 1800s cross-country was practiced in public schools, especially Rugby. In 1850, undergraduates at Exeter College, Oxford organized a foot grind. This was an analogy with steeple chasing on horse where a race would be held towards the nearest church steeple, forcing riders to clear rural obstacles such as hedges, fences, and ditches. A two-mile cross-country steeplechase formed part of the Oxford University sports (in which many of the modern athletics events were founded) in 1860, but replaced in 1865 by an event over barriers on a flat fields, which became the modern steeplechase in athletics.

In 1868, members of Thames Rowing Club looking for winter exercise (when rowing did not take place then) formed Thames Hare and Hounds in Roehampton on the south-west fringes of London and adjoining Wimbledon Common on which cross-country races were staged. They were joined by Peckham Hare and Hounds in 1869 (which became Blackheath Harriers in 1880), Cheshire Tally Ho Hare and Hounds in 1872, Birchfield Harriers 1877, Cambridge University Hare and Hounds in 1880, and Ranelagh Harriers in 1881. The English Cross Country Union followed in 1883 which introduced the National Championships. Most of these early clubs continue to thrive to this day. The reason for the names associated with hunting is that in many of the early matches, the course was set by paper chasing: a few runners (the hares) would have a start on the bulk of the field (the hounds), and lay a 'scent' by scattering a paper trail behind them which the hounds would follow. Racing would take place between the hares and the hounds and within the hounds themselves. Because of the obvious nuisance this can generate, this form of racing was largely discontinued quite early on. Occasional matches still take place, by Cheshire Tally Ho and the popular Hash House Harriers, for example. However, from an early date steeplechases and championship races also took place over fixed courses, as today.

In 1878, the sport was introduced into the United States by William C. Vosburgh. At first, the sport served mainly as training for summer track and field athletics. Nine years later, cross-country running became a formal sport in the United States. Despite the international popularity of cross-country, the sport was dropped from the Olympic Games after 1924 due to it being an inappropriate summer sport. In the 1960s, the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which regulates cross-country running, allowed women to run for the first time.

The sport is still popular in temperate countries. Internationally, the IAAF organizes the World Cross Country Championships, which is perhaps the best quality distance race that takes place as it attracts runners who normally specialize in only one or two track or road distances. In recent years the type of course at this event has changed, moving from the traditional form to faster, drier courses.