PRESIDENT’S FOREWORD
My first ‘National’ was as a nine-year-old spectator. I picked a good one – the infamous 1972 Sutton Park race where the weather changed from reasonable to very unreasonable (and quickly) with sleet then snow. Most runners had started wearing singlets.
Despite the privations endured as an onlooking child (along with everyone else), it was such an exciting time. My older brother Andrew was competing in the Youth’s race and I was already looking forward to working my way up through the age groups to culminate in ‘the big one’. By time I had a few senior Nationals under my belt, another thrilling competition had appeared – the peerless National Cross Country Relays at Berry Hill Park. What a course! Fast, short-cropped grass with flowing corners for one half then mud, tree roots and sharp turns for the other half. And two laps per leg, resulting in some catastrophic burn-outs on lap two for those hapless victims who were drawn in by the fast grass on lap one. Great racing – happy days.
Running started for me as a seven-year-old with Halesowen A & CC in early 1971, following in my brother’s footsteps. In turn, he had been encouraged to join the club, along with others from the Grammar School, by a PE Master with great foresight. (We need these people more than ever, now). He was a former Welsh rugby international with infectious enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that running was an unforgiving sport and my complete lack of athletic talent saw me finish last in every race for at least the first year. The idea of ‘giving-up’ became quite appealing but knowing that this would upset Mum, after the sacrifices that she had made, I stuck at it. Which is when I discovered that I did have a talent (a painful one) – the capacity to push myself to extremes, which, over time, enabled me to compete with superior athletes who were a little more sensible about what they were prepared to endure for the sake of one more place in a race. I’m guessing that they hadn’t finished last as often as I had. Many decades and 1572 races later, on a pleasant June day, I’m on a train heading for Nottingham. By 11.45 am, I have around my neck the chain of the President of the English Cross Country Association for the 2026 / 2027 season. The scale of this honour and what it means to me my club is taking a while to sink in. There has been such a sense of excitement at Halesowen.
The depth of experience (organisational and athletically) of the ECCA committee left me feeling a little inadequate. And what was evident was the vast complexity of staging an event at national level; and this can only be executed by a large, cohesive team formed of dedicated and skilful people ready to take on responsibility. This is not territory for an individual approach. I came away from these meetings feeling uplifted (and humbled) and optimistic for the future of cross-country racing. With falling numbers, the drive to reverse the decline has seen a steady ‘tweaking’ of the format to broaden the appeal through steady evolution. The success of park runs, running groups and Strava seems to have weakened the foundations of Saturday afternoon racing; the reversal needs to come from within clubs – to encourage their members to support cross-country at all levels, so that future generations have the opportunity to derive the same sense of satisfaction that I and thousands of others have had from competing in, surely, the World’s greatest club cross-country races – the English National Cross-Country Championships and the English National Cross-Country Relays. Onwards to another rewarding season.
Bill Nock
President English Cross Country Association 2026- 2027