The year is 1876. Queen Victoria is ruling an empire; Benjamin Disraeli is her Prime Minister; Thomas Edison is seeking a patent for the telephone. At Buckhurst Hill in Epping Forest, 32 men gather at a pub, The Bald-Faced Stag, for the All England Cross Country Championship. It is mid-November and it is raining. South…
Tag: Herne Hill Harriers
Coming to a muddy field or park near you, cross country is back
It is New Year’s Day. I am trudging across an open field, decorated with wind-harassed red and white tape. The ground has slid away; the floor is a molten conveyor belt of liquidised mud. It writhes beneath the slap of ineffectual spikes. I am 15. I think I am in love. Love has brought me…
The unpredictable art of running blogging
I have been blogging for some years. I was a writer and journalist first. My original purpose was to support the publication of my first book, Heights of Madness, and my second and third books thereafter. Over time, heightsofmadness.com graduated into a running blog – a blog that last week pleasingly surpassed 50,000 visits. Writing…
Running in circles
I ran track (that sounds very American, doesn’t it?) at school. I had a best of 2.13 over 800m. I was distinctly average. I never came close to winning anything. I recall 800m races being uncompromisingly hard. I continued my mediocrity at university, memorably running the 1500m in 4.29 at a BUSA indoors championship while…
‘I was there…’ Marking 125 years of Herne Hill Harriers
The year is 1889, a time before television, tea bags and Twitter. Queen Victoria is the monarch; Jack the Ripper is stalking the East End; Britain rules a third of the globe. In Milkwood Road, Herne Hill, an institution is born: an athletics club called Herne Hill Harriers. There was war and peace, Bing Crosby…
A silver lining at the Surrey cross country championship
I am not going to romanticise cross country. It would be easy, though. Cross country is real running, the pursuit of the running purist, the preserve of the tough. I will stop there because the romantic idea of cross country at the quagmire of Denbies Vineyard lasted about three minutes yesterday. However, In these three…
‘Do you want beans with that?’ A tribute to Stan Allen
Athletics has lost Stan Allen. With his passing, a part of Herne Hill Harriers has died. Stan was an athlete, coach and wordsmith, but – more important than splits and positions – he was a shining example of humanity. His association with Herne Hill Harriers spanned an astonishing 62 years. I knew Stan only in his twilight years,…
The loneliness of the 10,000 metre runner
Helene Bellahn is confused. Her mum, Inga, runs towards her. The two-year-old watches expectantly. Mum rounds a corner. Nearer. Very near now. Helene’s smile grows. Mum is level – and, suddenly, gone. Tears. This happens 25 times. Helene’s bafflement is understandable: her mum is running 10,000 metres on a 400-metre track. An unchanging vista. Running…
Deakin to Muir: 105 years of Herne Hill running
In 1907 Joe Deakin won the inaugural Herne Hill Harriers’ 10-mile cross country championship. In 2012 I won the 105th Herne Hill Harriers’ 10-mile cross country championship. The prize then and now is the same: the gigantic and heavy Dewar Shield (pictured below), presented by whisky man Sir Thomas Dewar. In 1908 Joe Deakin won…
Pirie 10
This impressive piece of silverware is (soon to be) in my possession. Such are the glittering rewards for running laps of muddy fields. The latest muddy fields I ran around were actually frozen ones on Farthing Down in Coulsdon. Whenever I think of Farthing Down, I remember the children’s book, The Baby and Fly Pie,…
The rough and tumble of the Surrey League
This time last week I was bathing in the glory of being able to say: ‘I actually won something.’ Much can change in a week. It is no disrespect to the Broadway Tower Marathon to say Surrey League cross-country races are running on an utterly different level. They are not as muddy, hilly or long;…
Cioch Mhor hill race 2012
A 10-day visit to the Scottish Highlands happened to coincide with the date of one my favourite hill races, Cioch Mhor. At least that’s what I told my wife. Organised by Highland Hill Runners, the 14km race starts at Tulloch Castle above Dingwall, before ascending to the trig pillar atop Cnoc a’Bhreacaich and then Cioch Mhor, a 482-metre pap dwarfed…
Heights of Madness 