Athletics

CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING. We have not space enough todetail the following years,- 1881 produced the most exciting finish on record, G. A. Dunning (Clapton Beagles) beating W. Snook (Moseley Harriers) bya few inches, in71 min. 58 sees., andMoseley, Birmingham (68 points), won; Birchfield (94), second; S.L.H. (118), third.For four years this club orderemained unchanged. The last contest over the Wimbledon course was oft 3 March, 1883, when the T.H. &H. dropped out for good, but their near neighbours, the Ranelagh Harriers, although not two years old, made their appearance, getting seventh. Other changes followed, the chief of which was the for­ mation of the National Cross-country Union, with sub­ divisions—Northern, Midland, and SouthernCounties C.C. Associations, eachholding itsown sectional championship. This gave the sport a locus standi it never possessed before, and firmly established it. Under the reformed conditions, which, like the A.A.A., provided that the cham­ pionship should be held alternately in each division, the eighth annual championship came off at Four Oaks Park, Birmingham, on 1 March, 1884. Only six clubs started, with the usual result—Moseley (32), Birchfield (68), S.L.H. (89). Since then the contests have always been held in enclosed grounds forthe start and finish; in fact, a suggestion made in the press some time before this by the present writer,that Kempton or Sandown Park racecourses would prove suitable sites, was carried out to the letter. In 1889 a junior championship (SouthernCounties) was insti­ tuted, andboth itand the senior race were simultaneously decided, on Croydon racecourse, in 1890, and in 1891 twenty-seven clubs,with 312 runners, took part.