I enjoyed 'The Ponds' (2018), Patrick McLennan and Samuel Smith's documentary following a year in the life of the famous outdoor men's, women's and mixed swimming ponds on London's Hampstead Heath. Much of what was said about the joys of this kind of swimming can be translated to running - the therapeutic effects of exercise, the appreciation of being outdoors in all weathers, the companionship of the intrepid band of enthusiasts.
I was particularly struck by one of the swimmers referring to what he referred to as a Russian concept of living water ('Zhivaya voda'), with the pools somehow infused with some of the life force of all who have swam in them before- something continually renewed by each swimmer returning to the water.
I sometimes have a similar sensation running over historic courses in the footsteps of thousands who have run them before. This is nowhere more so than on Hampstead Heath where I ran in the South of England Cross Country Championships last month. Athletics shares the sporting landscape of the Heath with swimming, with its cross country courses and of course the Highgate Harriers running track at the bottom of Parliament Hill - in recent years home to the iconic 'Night of 10,000m PBs' races.
The cross country races start by another swimming landmark on the Heath - the Parliament Fields Lido -from where so many runners have charged up to the top of the hill at the start of the National and Southern Champs. Most of the greats of English athletics have run that course, including David Bedford who incidentally features briefly in 'The Ponds' as a sometime swimmer.
The start of the senior women's race in South of England Cross Country Championships,
Parliament Hill, 26 January 2019
The Southerns have been happening on the Heath since 1954 and the Nationals since 1957, but as the even longer history of the Ponds shows we should not take this for granted. As recently as 2004 the City of London Corporation, which is responsible for the Heath, tried to close down the Ponds but backed down after a successful campaign. I saw 'The Ponds' last month at a screening at the Phoenix Cinema (East Finchley) with a Q&A afterwards with the directors and a representative of the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association. The latter mentioned that the Ponds have got increasingly busy with the current outdoor swimming boom, something that some of those used to the previous early morning solitude may be ambivalent about - but which helps build the case that stopping swimming there would be unthinkable. Likewise there were nearly 6,000 entries for the Southern cross country champs this year. Long may running and swimming continue on the living tracks and waters of Hampstead Heath.
The 2017 English National Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday February 25th at Wollaton Park in Nottingham. I took part in the senior men's race, one of nearly 1800 who made it round the 12k course.
Front of senior women's race on first lap
The course itself was decidely 'interesting', a spiralling series of four loops each slightly longer and different from the previous. There were a number of photogenic water and mud features, a longish sticky patch on last lap being particulary tough, but provided you negotiated these without falling or losing a shoe you always knew that you would soon be on a long runnable stretch. In that respect I found it a lot more pleasant than the Parliament Hill course where the mud can sometimes seem to stretch on forever (the English nationals will be returning there for 2018)
There were two main uphill sections on the course- one just before the descent to the finish line (which the senior men covered four times), and one climbing up to towards Wollaton Hall (a feature of three of the men's laps - the women's course was shorter). Trudging up that hill put me in mind of the old folk song 'In Nottingham town, not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down'.
The tail end of the senior women's race enjoying the hill
It was my third National and I improved slightly on last year at Castle Donington, finishing 28 places ahead in a similar sized field - making me in the 79th rather than 83rd percentile with a mere 1395 runners in front of me!
Obligatory Nationals muddy legs shot
As for the club, Kent AC finished 11th in the senior men's competition and 12th in the senior women, a good result. Well done to Tonbridge AC and Aldershot, Farnham & District AC for winning the men's and women's champs respectively.
Kent AC changing trains at Tamworth station.
A big group of us travelled up from London, with 40 runners competing across the various races, most of whom stayed over for post-race celebrations in Nottingham. We ended up in Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (pictured below) built into the rocks by Nottingham Castle and purportedly the oldest pub in England. I'm sure it has seen worse than a few rounds of jager bombs with South London's finest. Hangovers were cleared with some early morning runs before heading home, I did 12 miles along the canal and the River Trent, passing near to Trent Bridge cricket ground and the City Ground of Nottm Forest.
End of the season
So that was the end of the cross country season, for me at least. The month before I ran in the South of England Cross Country Champs at Parliament Hill, finishing five minutes faster than at the Southerns last year on the same course - but it must be said conditions this year were a lot less wet and muddy than in 2016 (me below at end of first lap, didn't look quite so spy after nine miles).
Also last month I ran in the last fixture of the 2016-17 Surrey League, at Wimbledon Common on February 11th. I hotfooted there from Farthing Down near Coulsdon where South London Harriers hosted the final D1 women's race of the season on a snowy course along Happy Valley.
Surrey League women's race in the Coulsdon blizzard micro-climate, 11 February
Must admit I was a bit disappointed that there was no sign of snow at Wimbledon, though picturesque conditions aren't everything and Kent AC won the men's title for the 5th year in a row.
Start of Surrey League Division One Men's Race, Wimbledon Common, 11/2/2017 (photo by Pete Lighting)
The 2016 South of England Cross Country Championships took place at Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath on Saturday 30th January, with 3099 runners finishing 10 races for males and females of various ages.
Headlines in terms of the results were that Jonathan Hay (Aldershot) won the men's senior title, ahead of Chris Zablocki (Chichester) and Thames Valley Harriers' Antonio Silva. Highgate Harriers - for whom Hampstead Heath is home turf - won the team competition, with Serpentine Running Club in 2nd place and Bedford & County AC 3rd.
Senior women heading up first hill
Naomi Taschimowitz (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) was women's champion, with Svenja Abel (Highgate) nine seconds behind and Georgie Bruinvels (Aldershot) third. Aldershot, Farnham & District AC were winning women's team, followed by Serpentine and Herne Hill Harriers.
Good performances too from Kent AC (my club), with the men's senior team in 5th place (out of 70) and the women's team coming 9th in our first ever year of fielding a full women's team. We also had success in the junior races with Ollie Bright coming 7th in the U13 boys and Isabel Bradley in 30th place in the Under-20s women (full results at South of England Athletics Association).
So at the front of the races there were some top athletes, but for the rest of us it was the challenge of doing our best over one of the most challenging cross country courses, in one the sport's spiritual homes.
Senior women's race start
I ran in the Nationals here last year, but found the Southerns tougher as it was over three laps instead of two - official distance was 15k (9.3 miles). Although my Garmin made it slightly less, in effort level terms it was up there with a half marathon. I love watching the races heading up from the start by Parliament Hill Lido with the city skyline behind them, but the famous long uphill start isn't as daunting as it seems when you're running. The adrenalin, the crowd and and the tightly packed field carry you up to the top.
Under-20s men on first hill
It's as the course heads downhill to the right that the going really starts to get tough with a long section of heavy, ankle deep mud that continues as the route turns and heads up the slope. There's another energy-draining section about half way round the lap, deep in the woods wading through slurry and leading straight onto a steep slippery hill. After that the rest of the lap is on relatively solid ground, albeit with some sticky patches, and rejoins the starting hill to begin the next lap towards the top of the slope
On the third and final lap there's a long descent down to the finishing stretch, right by Parliament Hill Fields Athletics Track. Then you get to go to the pub... in our case The Assembly House in Kentish Town, not sure if it got drunk dry as it did last year after the Nationals, but they'd certainly run out of some beers by the time I left (and that was quite early on).
The course
Club banners on the hillside - pictured here include Highgate Harriers, Southampton Athletic Club, Luton AC, Herts Phoenix AC, Wells City Harriers, Torbay AC, Basingstoke and Mid Herts AC, Cambrdge and Coleridge AC and St Albans AC.
Kent AC camped out on the heath
The indefatigable Mark Hookway from Tonbirdge AC has posted videos of all ten races here. Cruelly the men's senior footage starts with the most difficult section - hell in the woods (actually this is the first lap, it got a lot worse as the mud became more churned up). My only thought at this point was just keep running, however slowly...
Parliament Hill Legends
There's a whole lot of history, folklore and legends associated with Parliament Hill. Is the mound to the north of the hill really ‘Boedicea’s Grave’? (No). Did Highwayman Dick Turpin hang out in the area? (Possibly). Is the Hill named after the Parliamentary/anti-Royalist forces who occupied it during the English Civil War? (probably).
But in athletics terms, the Hill has its own legends - Brendan Foster winning the English National Cross Country Championships there in 1977, Mo Farah winning the Nationals Junior Men's race in 2003, and many more.
Another legend was present on Saturday and said a few words - David Bedford, who won the National XC at Parliament Hill in 1973, as well as the London Cross Country champs there several times. There's British Movietone footage of him winning the London XC champs in 1973, crossing the line with his pet labrador, Snoopy:
... and also of another Bedford victory in the same competition, I believe from 1974:
David Bedford after winning at Parliament Hill in 1974 (?)
