Still Running (weakly). Issue 28

PAST – inspiration – “Even horses get blankets,” said Nick Rose, as he shivered on the podium of the 1980 World Cross Country Championships at Longchamp racecourse near Paris. Rose had led for most of the race, before being overtaken by Craig Virgin of the US and Hans-Jurgen Orthmann of West Germany. It was the last time that England won the team gold medals, as Ethiopia and Kenya (and Uganda in 2019) dominated from 1981 onwards. In his younger days, the American runner had prompted an unpunctuated headline on the cover of Track and Field News – “VIRGIN HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF THE YEAR.” I didn’t know it was his name; I thought our cousins across the pond had a different category of award for those runners who’d kept themselves pure!

PRESENT – perspiration – “Apart from the barrier that I very nearly went flying into,” Megan Keith said that she enjoyed high-fiving the spectators along the finishing straight of the European U23 Cross Country Championships – avoiding a cheesy roll over the Gruyere hoarding. Despite all of that, she still won by 1 minute and 23 seconds – a championship record by far. All in all, it was Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s most successful championships, winning 7 of the 13 golds on offer. This was only partly due to the quantities of Belgian mud available to the runners, which you can enjoy on the BBC iPlayer from the warm, dry safety of your sofa, should you wish.

FUTURE – suggestion – “It was my greatest race,” said Paula Radcliffe – and she wasn’t talking about her 2:15:25 marathon world record in London 2003, her World marathon gold in 2005, her European 10,000 gold in 2002, or her Commonwealth 5,000 win the same year. She was talking about finally winning the World Cross Country title in 2001. (Paula saw this as her last chance to win it, before moving up to the marathon, having won silvers in 1997 and 1998, and bronze in 1999, though, ironically, she did win it again in 2002.)

Cross country has long been a feature of British runners’ winter preparations, contributing to the successes of champions like Paula, Eilish McColgan, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe. But why?

A hard 30, 40, 50-minute run through mud, up and down hills, through streams, in all weathers, is a great conditioner, with the variable footing and testing gradients guaranteed to strengthen not just muscles and lungs, but tendons and joints too. It also provides a competitive outlet during the long winter months, when weeks of just training can be tedious.

And it is not just of physical benefit. Will power, mental fortitude, toughness – these are qualities that can be developed, just like our bodily systems. If you can get out and run across land and through weather at which your dog would look askance, then you are far more likely not to shirk that speed session or duck that long run at other times. A lot of parkruns give us a taste of cross country but look for slightly longer trail races for that real test! Enjoy!!