Worsley on Saturday 11/03/1939 (Senior Men)

ENGLISH CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP

INDIVIDUAL TITLE RETAINED BY J. T. HOLDEN

The fifty-eighth English cross-country championship, held at Worsley, near Manchester on Saturday, provided one of the greatest test of stamina in the history of the event. Rain fell heavily throughout, making the ten-and-a-half mile course so difficult that there many instances of fatigue, and ten of the forty-three competing, clubs failed to close in.

The race was noteworthy for the second successive victory of J. T. Holden (Tipton Harriers) who, in his thirty-second year, must be regarded as the greatest cross-country runner of his time. Not since Alfred Shrubb's winning sequence of 1901-2-3-4 had an athlete retained the English title for the second year.

There were 371 runners, and it says much for Holden's ability that he was leaders among from the outset. He did not, however, force the pace until nine miles had been covered. He then found it difficult to break away from A. E. Tyrer (Sutton Harriers), the Northern champion. For fully half a mile Tyrer hung on, but he eventually found the pace too great, and Holden opened up a gap which gained him a victory by ten seconds. F. H. Reeve (Slough Athletic Club) was a close third.

L. R. McIntyre (Thames Hare and Hounds) the Southern champion, could finish no nearer than eleventh, and the international C. A. J. Emery (North Staffordshire Harriers) was seventeenth. There was always a keen tussle for the team honours. Belgrave Harriers ultimately defeated Birchfield Harriers by twelve points for the title, with Mitcham A.C., the holder, a long way behind third. With a lap to go it appeared likely that the Birchfield Club would regain the title lost to Mitcham at Reading last year. In the final circuit, however, the Belgrave runners put in some really wonderful packing to gain the day.