History

Cross country is an organized sport that originated from the Crick Run held every year since 1837 at Rugby School in England. In the early 19th century, cross country was practiced in all private schools in England. In 1851, undergraduates at Exeter College, Oxford organised 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 was replaced in 1865 by an event over barriers on a flat field, 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, but is relatively unknown in Asia. Japan's love of distance running has manifested itself in a slightly different format, the Ekiden, which began in 1917. Internationally, the IAAF organises the World Cross Country Championships. In recent years, courses have tended to change to faster, drier courses than the traditional ones.