World Athletics gives Heritage plaques to British athletics institutions in latest wave of awards

The historical importance of Shrewsbury School and Thames Hare & Hounds have been recognised by World Athletics as the global governing body has given them prestigious Heritage plaques.

They are among seven recipients of the latest wave of plaques and they will now have a presence in the virtual Museum of World Athletics.

The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition and awarded for “an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport of track and field athletics and of out of stadia athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and ultra-running, and race walking.”

Shrewsbury School has been awarded a plaque in the ‘culture’ category alongside the French sports newspaper L’Équipe and Brazilian Olympic museum Galeria Olimpica RGM.

Thames Hare & Hounds falls under the ‘competition’ category and has received the plaque along with the New York City Marathon and the 75-year-old Enschede Marathon.

Mikio Oda, who became Japan’s first-ever Olympic champion when he won the triple jump title in 1928, has also been honoured.

The sport of cross country running originated at Shrewsbury School in 1819 with the creation of the “paperchase” game across countryside and the first surviving ‘Hound Book’ of the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt, dating back to 1831, records the runs of the school’s hunt of that year. The most historic of these runs still raced today is the Tucks, a 5km course, the genesis of modern cross county running.

Headmaster Leo Winkley said: “We are delighted and deeply honoured that World Athletics has recognised Shrewsbury School’s unique place in the history of athletics as the birthplace of cross-country running.  The sport continues to enjoy a central role in our sporting programme with girls and boys training and competing alongside one another in the Shropshire Hills and across the UK.”

Many of the old traditions remain today: the captains of cross-country are known as the Huntsman and Huntswoman, their two deputies being the Senior and Junior Whips, and the younger runners being known as the Hounds. At the start of the school races – including the annual whole-school Tucks run and the Inter-House Steeplechases and Paperchases – the Huntsman goes to the front of the pack of runners and issues the rallying cry: “All hounds who wish to run, run hard, run well, and may the devil take the hindmost”.

Thames Hare & Hounds, meanwhile, was formed in in 1868 in London and is the oldest adult cross-country running club in the world.

The club was created by members of Thames Rowing Club at Putney who were looking for a way to keep fit during the winter. They staged three ‘Thames Handicap Steeplechases’ on Wimbledon Common between December 1867 and March 1868.

Out of these races, Thames Hare and Hounds emerged, staging its first run on 17 October 1868 in the form of a paperchase.

There have now been 71 Heritage plaques awarded. Among these, AW was privileged to receive one in 2019.