Aside from Varsity and BUCS, many CUH&H members also compete in several other races during the cross-country season:
MegaCross (previously RAF match) #
Obviously not being a College League race, MegaCross is the first opportunity of Michaelmas term to get stuck into cross-country racing representing Cambridge. This fixture has previously been part of a tri-match series between the RAF, CUH&H and the Eastern Counties (EAA) – but more recently has been extended to include Imperial and Cambridge Alumni too. There is no limit on numbers in this race, so anyone who wants to race for CUH&H can do so.
The race takes place on Coldham’s Common, which is a park on the outskirts of Cambridge. The course is flat and is almost completely on sports pitches, grass and woodland trails.
MegaCross is an opportunity for runners of all abilities to race against people of a similar standard. It is a great way to get involved in the CUH&H team and increase the team spirit in the build up to the varsity matches, and it is always an enjoyable day out.
Liverpool Cross Challenge #
Every year thousands of British runners flood to Liverpool for the European Cross-country trials. Despite being held in November, this is regarded as the pinnacle of the domestic cross-country season as athletes fight for their chance to represent Great Britain at the European Cross-country Championships. The event brings together seasoned professionals and emerging talent alike. With no entry requirements, this is a mass participation event. Previous experience or form doesn’t matter. The best on the day will get the ultimate reward, handing many their first ever international vest. Hosted at Sefton Park, the event is notorious for its unpredictable conditions. Wet, mud, high winds, and bitterly cold temperatures make for a difficult racing environment. Unpredicatble conditions often lead to very unpredictable results, with underdogs rising to the occasion year after year. […] This is British cross-country heritage, this is the Liverpool Cross-country Challenge.
TDP
Cambridgeshire County Cross Country Championships #
A new year and a new opportunity to pick up the cross-country campaign where you left off after Varsity. This event can take place anywhere in the County so it’s a good guarantee that the course will be on the flat side. The top 6-8 finishers in each race are selected to represent Cambridgeshire in the UK Intercounties Championships in March.
A note of caution: If you have previously run in your home county’s championships then you should continue to do so or ask your county manager to consider you for Intercounty team selection if it’s run after you’ve come back to Cambridge. Running in the Cambridgeshire Champs will render you ineligible to represent your home county in the same cross-country season. To be eligible to represent Cambridgeshire you must have lived continuously in the county for nine months.
The Cambridgeshire County Secretary can be contacted from here.
Owain Bristow
National Cross Country Championships #
The oldest inter-club cross-country race in the world (predating the Varsity match by three years) and it’s not one to be missed. Aside from the guaranteed mud and hills, the best cross country runners of England will have travelled from up and down the country to be beaten by you. The venue varies on an annual basis between the South, North and Midlands. Most people tend to run for their home club in this event but if you don’t have one then you can run for CUH&H. Ask the junior treasurer who will happily register you to run under our colours. More information on the National can be found here.
Inter-Counties #
The Inter-Counties acts as the selection event for the World Cross Country Championships in alternating years (think of it as Cuppers UK). The races have been held at venues such as Cofton Park, Prestwold Hall, and Wollaton Park and are certain to be a mud bath if it has been a wet winter. In order to qualify to compete you must usually finish within the top eight in your county championships in January. Make no mistake this is a tough race, as it should be with GB vests at stake. Traditionally the men run for 12km and the ladies 8km but the men’s race has been brought down to 10km after world athletics changed race distances at the 2017 World Cross Country Championships.
Roman Road Run #
This is the last competitive race of the cross-country season. Posing each year as a (rather literal) warm-up for the club’s Annual Dinner. It is traditionally held on the last weekend of the Lent term. Several features of the Roman Road Run contribute to its famed status and render it a fitting end to the muddy part of the year:
- The course is a bit of a Titan. Stretching out over 9.5 miles, it dwarfs our other cross-country fixtures in terms of distance and can come as a bit of a surprise when you’ve been easing off on the old training.
- It doesn’t look like much of a Roman road. It’s far from being the straight, flat, effortless ride you might imagine; the route winds back and forth like an angry serpent, plunging through foul bogs and sucking at your helpless road-running shoes with its muddy lips. There’s also a surprising amount of undulation, and the terrain is definitely unsuitable for chariots.
- We are treated to a thrilling staggered start, in that four or five groups of runners are set off with 5-minute intervals between them. Interestingly, everyone gets to pick their own handicap; this doesn’t affect the final results (as the finishing times are all adjusted to account for this devilish scheme) but it does lend an atmosphere of excitable confusion to proceedings, with runners drifting back and forth through the field and no one ever quite sure of what position they’re really in. It also gives more casual participants the chance to take on and beat the cream of Cambridge athletics in a cataclysmic clash of egos. All in all a rather fabulous idea, what what.
Amongst the competitors in this ancient contest, one generally finds a horde of eager beavers from Cheshire Tally Ho and the Thames Hare and Hounds, and in the past even arch-enemy Oxford has been invited to take part. It is a most sociable gathering of like-minded souls, and after the run we are bussed back to Cambridge for a spot of light refreshment at the track pavilion. Then it’s back to college for some showering and sprucing, as the social event of the year – the Annual Dinner – looms large overhead.
Andy Bell
Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running #
A three day running festival on the Isle of Man, and a chance to whip out the now famous pink vests of the Cambridge ‘Greyhounds’. A 10km road race on Good Friday, and hill race near an ancient castle on Saturday capped off with a 5km along the seafront on Easter Sunday. Regularly destroying full grown better drinking teams with our pace, power and persistance, the IOM festival is not to be missed.