Treading the Cross-Country Trail -
Reflections on the 1974-75 Season

On the way to any cross-country match we watched in eager anticipation to see whether Mr. Ford would drive at 31 m.p.h. through a built-up area - a rare event. We made regular tours of Watford, mainly designed to avoid the bottleneck of Bushey Arches, and usually routed via Vivian Gardens so that Mr. Ford could deposit large quantities of muddy kit at his home.

One of the most entertaining fixtures last year was at Dr. Challoner's School, Amersham, just before Christmas. The 3rd year race went off without a hitch in pouring rain, when some of the team decided that it would be an excellent idea to wear tracksuit tops as a weight training exercise, but they soon discarded these after the first lap. However, the 4th year race soon turned into a farce when four of our team reappeared at the start after about 10 minutes, having got lost. Then the Challoner's runners jogged in with no sign of any opposition, until a disconsolate Jon Henley appeared having apparently run the full course. Quite a while later, Mike Farley and Mark Candler came into view, the former having been impaled on a stile and the latter having lost both his shoes in a farmyard. Still, everyone took this escapade in good heart.

Both 3rd and 4th year teams enjoyed the annual fixture with St. Albans School. This was a relay race organized with customary efficiency by Mr. Pryke ("I'll explain the course to you in detail, chaps"). I hope that our teams took note of the courtesy and helpfulness displayed by the St. Albans teams.

Our own reputation for well-organized races (a legacy inherited from "Joiner" days), quickly took a tumble in the 1st Borough League Race which had to be declared null and void owing to several of the leading runners getting lost near the watersplash (they must have known what was coming). This race was re-run at Abbotsfield School in February when the mud was at its thickest. In view of the complete lack of markers, Mr. Ford, eager to get his weekly mileage into double figures, "hared" the race (Cross-Country jargon meaning that he led the runners round the course). "Course" here was a misnomer, or rather Mr. Ford "invented" a course as he went round, diving under barbed wire fences and through knee-deep mire. He re-appeared about 30 minutes later, followed by the leading six runners. There was then a long gap before the rest of the field appeared from various directions. Mr. Ford bathed his wounds in a well-earned shower, the "race" was declared null and void for the second time, and everyone went home thoroughly fed-up. Certain notable athletes declared they would give up Cross Country after this fiasco, but fortunately their frustration was short-lived. Meanwhile, our 3rd year were busily counting up their medals and examining their quality. It did not take long for a certain member of the team to discover that the centres of our school medals soon drop out, but are easily replaceable with glue.

Finally I would like to thank Nicholas John and other members of the 3rd year Team, who exhausted the hot water supply in the showers throughout the season, and Mr. Ford who kindly refrained from censoring all references to himself in this article.

R.K.