School Cross Country

I loved all types of running, including crosscountry. But it was really tough for some of the less sporty students. I can remember seeing girls throw up on the course. I also have a guiltily funny memory of one girl tripping over her feet at the top of a hill and rolling all the way down to the bottom where she was told by our grumpy PE teacher to "stop messing about"!!! 🤣

At my school our running course was across fields and through woodlands.
The most abiding memory is of being soaked by heavy rain and our T-shirts and little shorts becoming semi-transparent.

We did it twice a year with the boys. In winter we ran laps of the playing fields, in spring we did a more interesting woodland course. Girls had to wear gym knickers which attracted much attention from the boys and random passing perverts 😞 My abiding memory is being soaked to the skin and my fingers too frozen to undo the laces on my trainers.

And the showers having very limited hot water 🥶

We started out at the back of the school where a road comes up the side where the ovals are.
The course went down that road turning left, about 200 metres we came to the beach path turning right and followed that to the beach. (🤷‍♂)
Left again. Go maybe 1km till another goes left.
On the road go right for a little bit. The left. Trying not to cut yourself on the barbed wire fence. Through the race track. Across a farm. (Watch out for the pigs) Then a left down the road that leads to the school teachers car park and you're done. 5km in total I think.

Our route was three times around a muddy wooded track. The boys and the PE teacher steamed off in front, the girls, with one or two exceptions, trailing behind. Myself and a couple of friends used to dive off into the bushes on the first lap, have a fag and a shivering chat - it was bloody cold and damp - and rejoin at the back on the third lap.

Worked a treat for a couple of weeks but on the third we were seen by a Prefect. Which led to an audience with the PE teacher and a visit to the Headmaster's office.

I was in the school cross country team until I was about 15. We had a hilly common across the road from school so it was "proper cross country"

Health and safety nightmare nowadays probably. But come rain,wind, sunshine,snow, we'd do our 3-5k run ,up some busy A road,down some quieter B road's,up a steep hill,and down,through the small village at the back of the school,and cross the line,all in about 30 mins I seem to remember,then hit the showers

Oh yes I remember track and field I got medals in it

Never tried it, never wanted to -- the approximately 1-mile run out to football practice was enough for me.