STATE OF THE NATION
With the season now kicking off, RUTH JONES looks at the health of our leagues and finds out if cross country is still the backbone of Britain’s running scene
PICTURES: MARK SHEARMAN
THE month of October sees the first of the traditional British cross-country leagues kick off in earnest, with events in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland welcoming hundreds of athletes of all abilities to compete on the mud and the hills.
Athletics Weekly recently highlighted how participation levels in Scotland have risen monumentally in recent years, but is that upward trend replicated across the rest of the UK? And are the cross-country leagues still viewed as a crucial element of an athlete’s racing calendar?
Statistics from the English National Cross Country Championships, the English Cross Country Relays and the British Cross Challenge Series — which saw record levels of participation last year — show most age groups have seen a significant growth in finishing numbers over the last decade.
But what of the UK’s regional leagues? We started our investigation in Scotland.
The main league north of the border remains the Scottish East District League, which the country’s governing body sees as being part of the very fabric of the sport, helping athletes to grow and develop before tackling the increasingly popular national championship races.
This popularity was underlined at this year’s nationals at Falkirk, where the overall figure of 2295 athletes entered for races from under-13 to senior and masters age groups has been bettered only once at this event in more than 40 years.