With the cross-country season beginning soon, there may be some of you wondering whether to take the plunge, perhaps for the first time.
One good reason to go for it is that Highgate Harriers are really rather good at this, and there’s a wealth of advice and encouragement to be had from many experienced Harriers, your coaches and our marvellous team managers:
- Rob Wilson for the Senior Men
- Louise Faherty for the Senior Women
- Kate Jenrick for the Juniors
Another good reason is to experience the great camaraderie in the team. Below, our first 12 senior men home at the end of our last Met League fixture, looking delighted after winning the league for the 12th consecutive time.
Thirdly, as well as being our home, Parliament Hill is the iconic home of cross-country in England. Here’s an extract from local legend Michael Palin’s Diaries – The Python Years – Saturday 3rd March 1973:
“Take Thomas and William on to Parliament Hill. It’s the English cross-country championships, quite a sight. Over 1,000 runners streaming round the Heath. It was like a Boy’s Own Story(*). David Bedford – the hero who failed at Munich – was leading the field, and he ran lightly down the hill a foot or so away from us.
Behind Bedford trailed hundreds of runners with no hope. Men whose chins were already flecked with white dried spittle, small, bespectacled balding men with shoulders smartly back, lank, long-haired boys striding down the hill like Daddy-Long-Legs. We moved up to the top of the hill to watch the second lap, and Thomas was running all over the place in his little green duffel coat, trying to emulate the runners. The sun came out as they ran around a second time, and the Heath suddenly seemed small as the long line of multi-coloured vests was stretched as far as the eye could see. Bedford was pipped in the second lap by a New Zealander. It was an exhilarating feeling to have been present at a big national sporting event, without having to pay any money, squeeze through any turnstiles and sit where one’s told.”
(*) The ladies ran on a different day back then - Jen
And finally, with my long experience as a volunteer course marshal here’s my advice:
- Do your shoe laces up snugly with a double bow, or they will fall off in the mud
- Write your emergency contact number on your bib. If you fall or need help a marshal will come to your aid and call the first aiders. They can also call your parent/emergency contact immediately if you have the number available.
- Ask your mum really nicely if she wouldn’t mind helping with the laundry
