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The basic details of the race are all above but says nothing about the quality of the field in 1912.   For instance it was the second of three gold medals for the event won by Jean Bouin of France who was to lose his life just two years later in the first year of the 1914-18 war.   The top Scot – GCL Wallach who was fourth was one of the best runners the country has produced, Tom Jack was also part of the team, Scotland also had two of the three Hughes brothers running.      The Scottish team (88 pts) was second to England (41 pts) and in front of Ireland who were third (110 pts).   Before looking at the actual race, the question was about why they were being held in Edinburgh.   Colin Shiels explains:   “Edinburgh hosted the International championship race, the previous two times it had been held in Scotland being in the West, but the representatives of the competing countries had expressed strong desires to see the beauties of Scotland’s capital.   The organisers acquiesced and chose Saughton Park, the venue of the sports programme of the Scottish National Exhibition held in Edinburgh four years earlier.   Early in March, just three weeks before the event took place, the Glasgow Herald commented ‘It is not generally known that the ICCU championships will be held in Edinburgh on March 30th.   Cross-country running has generally a firmer hold in Glasgow and the West of Scotland but in other respects there could not be a more delightful venue for the race.   The trail will probably embrace the Corstorphine hills though that is a matter of detail still to be decided by the Scottish Union at an early date.”   

The trail we are told covered one mile round the track before leaving the track to go over 5 laps of rough cart track and three miles of grassland.   Scotland’s six counting runners all finished within the first 22 for the team to secure second place but it was a disappointing run for Tom Jack whose last for Scotland it would be.   He had some consolation when just a matter of weeks later he won the track 10 miles championship for the seventh time in nine years.   The race report in ‘The Scottish Referee’ read –

The result of the individual race, taken from wikipediea :

The race went well and the Scottish team once again brought home medals for the country to celebrate.   Wallach (pictured below) was the coming man who would run in this event four times before the War and five time after it with best performances of second in 1914. third in 1911 and fourth in 1912 and 1922.   He was first Scot home eight times.   Bouin’s death in September was a real tragedy – he had run in the international in Scotland in 1907 and again in 1912 but his record in these races was magnificent – three first places (1911, 1912 and 1913), silver in 1909, and a silver team medal in 1913,    Equally good on the track he had a silver at the 1912 Olympic Games in Paris – it could be said that the Scots saw him at his best in 1912.

The first official cross-country championship had been held in Scotland in 1903 and a mere three years later it was back – Hamilton in 1937.   Only one of the Scottish team that day would be known to most Scottish athletics aficionados.   Tom Jack from Edinburgh who in the course of his career would win the cross-country championship of Scotland three times, run in the international 5 times and win the ten miles title six times, the four miles once and have numerous medals of all colours also in his trophy collection.   For the race description we go to Colin Shields’s book “Whatever the Weather” (an excellent book, the go-to book for all serious historians) who describes it thus:

“The international race was held at Scotstoun Showground over a four lap 10 mile course for the benefit of the 2000 spectators who attended the event.   Newly crowned National Champion Tom Jack finished fifth over a tough course which included fences and water jumps on each lap in a fast run race, won by A Underwood (England) in 54 min 24.6 seconds.   Jack split the English team , finishing less than a minute behind the winner, and the entire Scottish team finished inside the first 18 home to take the second place, behind England and finish well clear of Ireland and France, who made their first appearance in the race.”      

The Glasgow Herald had a longer report with all the places recorded.

Follow the link above and read more about Tom Jack for whom this was the first of five cross-country international appearance – a good all round endurance runner from all distances from one mile upwards.   

When the International Cross Country Championships came to Hamilton again in 1960, it was again only men, and the competing nations had dropped from ten to eight: Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Belgium, Spain and Morocco – the last being the first African country to take part and they finished fourth team.   The Scottish team was chosen from the National Cross-Country championship where Graham Everett (Shettleston), won after a torrid duel with Alastair Wood (Shettleston), after whom came Andy Brown (Motherwell YMCA), Joe Connolly, R Irving (both Bellahouston) and E Sinclair (Springburn).    The race was run over the well-known Hamilton Park course which was to be used for the international.   

Most Scottish papers mentioned the event in passing and agreed with the Aberdeen Evening Express which said 

Of the International, Colin Shields has this to say: “Alastair Wood led the Scots team home to fifth place – one place better than the previous year and, more importantly, with 62 points fewer on the scoreboard.   Wood finished seventh, with Everett 22 and Bruce Tulloh, the British 3 mile record holder, taking advantage of his Scots parentage to turn out for Scotland and finish twenty third in a race won by A Rhadi, the Moroccan who was to win the Olympic Games Marathon Silver Medal in Rome six months later.”

Faint praise there from Colin but better than the out and out criticism of some of the previous Scottish teams in the international.    The Glasgow Herald report on the race was as below.

How did the result measure up to the comments in the Evening Express on the day of the race?   They mentioned, Rhadi of Morocco, Basil Heatley of England, Everett and Tulloh of Scotland, Merriman of Wales, and van de Wattyne of Belgium.   The first ten were –

Three out of the first four wasn’t too bad – but Alastair Wood – from Aberdeen and a British track internationalist – was not one of their runners to watch!   The Scottish team was fifth of the eight and nearer to the fourth team than to the sixth.   Team results:

1.   England  52;   2.  Belgium  61;  3.   France  125;   4.   Morocco  159   5.   Scotland  171;   6.   Spain  243  ;   8. Ireland  279;   9.  Wales  279.  

Aberdeen AAC’s Steve Taylor raced three times for Scotland in the ICCU International: 1960, 1961 and 1962. His best performance was 35th (third Scot) in the 1962 event at Sheffield. He finished behind Andy Brown (9th), Aberdeen clubmate Alastair Wood (25th) and just in front of Jim Alder (36th) – the Scottish team was fifth.

Here are two photos: Steve Taylor’s memento badges, with the 1960 Hamilton one on the left; and his Scottish vest badge.

From the race detai;ls above, we can see that the championships were again split between the men and the women, and that again there were only two women’s teams forward – Scotland and England and Scotland.   It was again under the ICCU organisation but was again an unofficial championship.   The team was chosen from the Scottish championships held at Craigie Estate in Ayr and were won by Morag O’Hare of Maryhill Harriers from Betty Rodgers of Shettleston and Helen Cherry of Bellahouston Harriers.   They were joined in the international team by Doreen Fulton, Dale Greig and Mary Campbell.   Unlike the last running of the women’s international, the venue for the national championship and the international were different.   In 1957 the race was held at Musselburgh on the East Coast.   The result was not much different though.   The Glasgow Herald report read:

Dale Greig was eleventh and Mary Campbell twelfth.   The race had been held on a beautiful day with blue skies and not a cloud in sight but as Dale Greig said, “The occasion brought no joy for the Scots.”   

There were ten teams taking part in the men’s race with Scotland finishing eighth, ahead of Wales and Switzerland.   The Glasgow Herald report did not single out the Scots in the headline this time.

 Another Scots team that looked good on paper and in domestic races disappointed on the international stage.

This was the first international cross-country race in Scotland although it was not an official women’s championship.   Still not men and women at the same venue, the men competed at San Sebastian and the women in Ayr.   There were different dates (the men a week before the women and where the men had seven other nations to contend with, the women’s match was against England, and only England.  

The two team captains: Aileen Drummond for Scotland and Diane Leather for England.

The first women’s international had been held in 1954 at Perry Barr in Birmingham, and the second was at Ayr in 1955.   Both were unofficial but they were being held, nevertheless, under the banner of the ICCU.   However, regardless of whether we speak of the men’s or women’s race, a look at the results indicates their strength across the board.

The women’s team was selected from their national championship which was held at Ayr.   The result was a victory for Aileen Drummond (Maryhill) from Catherine Boyes (Maryhill), Elizabeth McLeod (Unatt), MollieFerguson (Springburn), Agnes Elder (Maryhill), Doreen Fulton (Springburn) and Mary Campbell (Maryhill).   For some reason, there were no reports in any of the usual newspapers  but fortunately there is a detailed one in Wikipedia.  The race result from that sourse was as follows

The team result seems clear enough!   The women’s race was the extent of the international in Scotland that time round – as already pointed out, the men were running in Spain and there was another disappointment for us.   The Glasgow Herald headline alone tells the tale.

The basic statistics for the race are above and the one to note is the number of events – only one race.   Into the 1950’s and after the Second World War there were still no championships at the top level for the ladies or the juniors.   This despite the fact that there had been women’s internationals, albeit unofficial ones, in the 1930’s.   I quote from elsewhere on this site: 

“Between 1931 and 1938, the International Cross Country Union organised four unofficial Championships for Women. These took place in 1931 (England, France, Belgium); 1932 (England, France); 1935 (England, Scotland); and 1938 (England, France, Belgium). Four more unofficial Championships were held between 1954 and 1957: these were contests between England and Scotland. For each country, there were up to six women in the team.“

You will also note that there were seven countries involved and the distance was over 9 miles, and the winner was Alain Mimoun. from France.    Mimoun, who really was a wonderful athlete, would go on have a genuine rivalry with Emil Zatopek in which he was almost always second to the great man. However  Alain Mimoun won the 1956 Olympic  Marathon title, when Zatopek was sixth.

The Scottish team in 1952 was selected on the basis of the national championships,  held at Hamilton,    This was won by Eddie Bannon (Shettleston Harriers) from Andrew Ferguson of Highgate Harriers and Tommy Tracey of Springburn Harriers.   The team that actually ran  had Bannon and Tracey plus Andy Forbes, Bobby Reid, Chick Robertson and Junior champion David Nelson.       How did they do?   They performed better than the team that ran when the championships were last held in Scotland (1946) and better than had been expected by the athletics oracles of the day.   The report in the Scotsman read as follows.

As in 1946, France produced first individual and first team.   They won the team race from England by 29 points (35 to 64) with Belgium third (126), Scotlanf fourth (151), then Spain (165), Ireland (243) and Wales (307).   The first three –

X

It was another organisational triumph for Scotland with all their runners finishing within 50 yards or so of each other for a grand team performance. 

Coming immediately after the 1939-45 War, the race was run at Ayr and was contested by six nations and the other basic facts of the race are noted above.   The other basics about the victory at both individual and team by France are below.

The race was the first international since before the War and the venue chosen was that used on the last time it was held in Scotland.    Colin Shields says of the race that it was a tremendous success and goes on to say “NCCS secretary George Dallas, who had attended every international and ICCU Council meeting since 1921, was the guiding light behind the organisation and Tom Fraser acted as Appeal Fund Secretary.   The French and Belgian teams had a long and tiring journey by ship and rail to Scotland, and the appearance of England, Ireland and Wales ensured a full turn out of all six member countries.   Scottish hospitality was fulsome, with teams and officials being taken to Hampden Park and Rangers football ground on the day before the race, with Glasgow City Council entertaining the teams to dinner at the City Chambers, and a celebratory after race banquet in Ayr Town Hall on Saturday evening.   To complete the overwhelming Scottish hospitality the teams and officials each received a beautifully bound volume of Robert Burns poems and a tartan tie.”

Programme cover and course map from Graham MacIndoe

The Scottish team was Jim Flockhart (Shettleston Harriers), Emmet Farrell (Maryhill Harriers), Bobby Reid (Birchfield, Willie Sommerville (Motherwell YMCA), Harry Howard (Shettleston) and Gordon Porteous (Maryhill).   All of whom were very good runners indeed with Flockhart having won the race in 19137 and Farrell having finished in the top ten in both 1938 and 1939.   The team looked good, but like the rest of the Home Countries, it did not perform well.   Read the Glasgow Herald report below.

The tone of disappointment that characterised comments on the Scottish team and its individual members, was mild compared to the criticism of Emmet Farrell himself who, writing in ‘The Scots Athlete’, said,  “The results of the International Cross-Country Championship threw into relief the poverty of British long distance running.   England were poor, but still far in advance of Scotland’s inglorious display … at the same time it should be said in mitigation that the bad weather and fast, almost track-like course did not help our boys … also the slip-shod arrangements made for them prior to the start were not helpful.   eg   Mr Crump, the English team manager button-holed a certain well known Scottish athlete personality asking why the Scottish team should be walking miles round the course on the morning of the race.   …   It is a sad commentary on Scottish cross-country running when the first Scotsman is only 15th.”

Colin Shields also picked up on Jack Crump’s point when he said “Scotland, not helped by their team manager having the team walking miles round the course just hours before the race, finished a distant fifth.”   Among the reasons advanced for the poor showing of the domestic teams in general and Scotland in particular were – 

1.   Severe food rationing in force;
2.   Except for Glasgow and the West of Scotland, there were no international class athletes anywhere else in the country.

Complete detailed men’s results are at the wikipedia page – 1946 International Cross Country Championships – Wikipedia

Mark Pollard finishing third behind Darren Gauson (120) and Derek Watson (134) in the 2004 Scottish Championships 1500m

Mark POLLARD (born 25.02.82) Inverclyde AC, City of Edinburgh, Belgrave Harriers

Appears in Scottish Athletics lists 1999-2017

Championship Record: 

Scottish Championships: 3rd 1500 2004,   3rd 1500 2005;   2nd Indoor 800 2000,   2nd Indoor 1500 2003.

Personal Bests: 800 – 1.54.02; 1500 – 3.45.0; 3000 – 8.20.89; 5000 – 14.38.61; Marathon 2.27.08.

On 14^th March, 2005, Mark won the 1500m (3.51.05) in the East District v West District match.

As an Under-20, on 4^th March 2000, at Neubrandenburg, Germany, Mark Pollard ran for Scotland v Germany and France. In an Indoors 1500m, he finished fifth in 4.03.08.

In 2008, Mark Pollard ran for Scotland in the Home Countries International Cross-Country at Edinburgh. He finished 11^th (third Scot) and his team was second to England but defeated Wales and Northern Ireland.

 Scottish National Cross-Country Championships

Mark Pollard (Inverclyde AC) became Senior National Scottish Champion in 2007 and 2008. In 2007, John Newsom was second and Alastair Hay third. In 2008, at Falkirk, Mark retained his title by one second from Tom Russell, with John Newsom third.

Inverclyde AC secured team bronze in 2008; and (by one point from Shettleston) won team title gold medals in 2010, when Mark was fifth counter in 19^th position.

 Scottish Short Course Cross-Country Championship

Mark won individual silver in 2007.

 Scottish Cross-Country Relay Championships

Inverclyde AC (including Mark Pollard) obtained team bronze in 2002, 2006 and 2016; silver in 2008; and won the Scottish title in 2007, 2011 and 2012.

 West District Cross-Country Championships

Mark finished third individual in 2011; second in 2005 and 2006; and won the title in 2007.

 West District Cross Country Relay Championships

Inverclyde AC (with Mark) won the team title in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010.

Scottish Six-Stage Road Relay Championships

Inverclyde AC (with Mark) secured bronze in 2007, 2009 and 2010 and 2016; in 2019 the team won silver medals.

While a member of Belgrade Harriers (as well as Inverclyde AC) from 2008, Mark took part in: the English Inter-Counties XC, the Southern and National 12 Stage Road Relays, the Edinburgh International 4k Cross-Country and 8k, the British Athletics League Premiership/National League 1 and many other good class events. He raced in Germany, Belgium, Northern Ireland and The Netherlands.

In 2021, Mark Pollard is Interim Head of Performance at Scottish Athletics.

 Mark Pollard will turn 40 in February 2022. Surely a good Masters career beckons!

Colin Shields wrote: “Scotland’s team was depleted when Ian Stewart, who had finished second in the English National, caught ‘flu and had to drop out, joining Rees Ward, who had earlier withdrawn due to injury. On race day, the weather deteriorated badly and appalling conditions of rain, hail and sleet were blown by strong winds horizontally into the faces of runners and spectators. Nat Muir (in seventh place) received the Walter Lawn Memorial Trophy as the first Scot to finish.”

In ‘The Scotsman’, Sandy Sutherland wrote an article with the headline TREACY ‘SHELTERS’ FOR TITLE. “Perhaps competitors in the World Cross-Country championships could be thankful that the snow held off until three hours after the finish, for the elements hurled just about everything else at them in Glasgow, on Saturday 25th of March 1978.

The mud in Bellahouston Park was knee-deep in places and, as there were no hippotomi around, few, if any of the field, enjoyed it.  But the winners were worthy of the name and never deserved their accolades more.

In these conditions it was all the more surprising to see France taking the senior men’s team title, with the United States second and England only third. (The distance raced was 12.3 km.)

Scotland, with little back-up for their first three, were ninth (out of 20 nations), although reserve Frank Clement did well to be fourth finisher.

John Treacy, from Waterford, added lustre to the Irish distance running tradition by giving them their first success since Tim Smythe at Baldoyle in 1931. Treacy, the man the Americans tipped on Friday, is only 20 and is a student at Providence College, Rhode Island.

The young Irishman had hardly raced over the country at all after finishing second to the Kenyan, Henry Rono, in the American National Collegiate championship in November.

Since then, Treacy has been running indoors on the boards – he recorded 13 minutes 10 seconds for three miles only a fortnight ago – and how well he made the transition. He made shrewd use of his rivals, Alexander Antipov (USSR) and Karel Lismont (Belgium), for shelter after the trio had dropped the field at the end of two laps.

“I didn’t mind the rain,” said Treacy, “but I hated the wind.”

Behind him, reputations were being made and broken. Guy Arbogast (aged 21), an ‘unknown’ American, was fifth just behind England’s Tony Simmons and Scotland’s Nat Muir (aged 20), after a mid-race sag, came back strongly for seventh.

Andy McKean had his best world championship, finishing 19^th and ahead of Scottish champion Allister Hutton, who is never happy in mud. Hutton could still be satisfied with 24^th, for English champion Bernie Ford was 62nd and Carlos Lopez (Portugal) and Jos Hermens (Netherlands) failed to finish. (Other Scottish counters were: Frank Clement 67^th, Ian Gilmour 84^th and John Graham 90^th.159 finished.)

Grete Waitz gave Norway her first success (over 4.728 km) when she won the women’s race by a record margin of nearly 200 metres. (By 1983, she had won the event five times.) The slight blonde flitted up the two steep inclines as if they hardly mattered, to finish exactly half a minute ahead of world indoor 1500m record holder Natalia Marasescu, who led home Romania to the team prize.

They were just ahead of America, for whom Julie Shea (aged 17) had a remarkable race to finish fourth. Joyce Smith (aged 40) was first British runner in ninth place and Judith Shepherd, the first Scot in 22^nd, was only three places behind the Russian double Olympic champion, Tatyana Kazankina.

Fiona McQueen, the Scottish Intermediate champion, justified her selection as third Scottish finisher in 79^th place (97 finished). [Second Scot (69^th) was Margaret Coomber (nee MacSherry) who had been first Scot back in 1969 at Clydebank.]

Mick Morton, from Blackburn, upheld the English cross-country tradition by winning the Junior event (over 7.036 km), and led his team to the closest of wins, on the count-back from Canada. Ian Brown, from Falkirk, was first Scot in 17^th place (4^th Briton). 90 finished.”

In ‘The Glasgow Herald’, Ron Marshall was even more complimentary about the first Scot in the senior race: “Nat Muir, in his first world championship as a senior, was the day’s outstanding Scot in any of the three races. For a spell, he steered himself into fourth place after working his way from about 20^th place in the early stages. But the 20-year-old from Salsburgh, Lanarkshire, was unable to sustain the challenge and slipped to seventh place by the finish, a tremendous performance in such company and one likely to be improved in the next couple of years.”

Colin Youngson recalls: “On the 4^th of March 1978, the course for the World Cross was tried out during the Scottish National Cross-Country Championships. The weather was good and the route included just a few muddy patches and a couple of hills on each lap. My Edinburgh Southern Harriers clubmate, Allister Hutton, won; and I was second ESH counter, moving through from 20^th to 13^th, the highest placing I ever got in this classic. On the 25^th of March, I was a fascinated spectator when the World Cross was held on the same course, which by now was horribly muddy. John Treacy of Eire, a well-respected ‘mudlark’, won (by three seconds) in a sprint finish through slippery mire against a Russian. (He retained his title in 1979 at Limerick, Ireland.)

Even onlookers were drenched and I felt really sorry for the competitors, battling against top-class opponents and ghastly weather. We were all pleased that Treacy won and that Nat ran so well. What I remember clearly is just how immensely hard Andy McKean was obviously trying; his was a truly heroic effort. Grete Waitz just eased away from her rivals and, in retrospect, I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to watch this superb, well-loved athlete at her cross-country best.”

(The World Cross Country Championships have a very detailed Wikipedia section, with complete results from 1978)

In his Centenary History of the SCCU, Colin Shields wrote:

“The International Cross Country Union Championships, for the first time since 1960, were staged in Scotland, and the Scottish Cross Country Union, in conjunction with Clydebank Town Council, staged them at Clydebank. A hilly, picturesque trail was laid out around Dalmuir Park and the adjacent golf course, that was acclaimed as the most testing course over which the championship had been held for a good number of years. Without any of the bad luck that had affected his performance in previous Senior international appearances, Ian McCafferty finished third for the best individual performance by a Scot since Jim Flockhart’s 1937 victory in Brussels. Always up with the leaders, he surprised everyone with his lion-hearted approach to the event, refusing to give way to anyone throughout the race, resisting every challenge to his forward position and finishing strongly to take the bronze medal ahead of England’s Mike Tagg, a future International champion. England won the team championship from France and Belgium, with New Zealand fourth ahead of Scotland in the field of 13 countries. Lachie Stewart (20^th) was closely followed home by Fergus Murray (23^rd) who made a remarkable comeback as third Scottish counter in a race where he had previously disappointed.”

In ‘The Scotsman’, Sandy Sutherland wrote an article with the headline “Roelants’ Wonderful Record”: “About 20 minutes before the start of the senior race at the International cross-country championships at Clydebank, I asked Tim Johnston of England who he thought was going to win. ‘Oh,’ he said, as though it was a foregone conclusion, ‘Roelants’ – and so it proved.

Only for one brief spell midway through the gruelling but amazingly dry 7 and a half miles was his supremacy threatened. Then Dick Taylor (England) took the lead. But Roelants, a superb judge of pace, soon overhauled him and strode confidently to his third win in this event – a wonderful record. (He won a fourth title in 1972.)

Saturday, if never before, served to prove what Ian McCafferty could achieve with the right guidance. With barely a major race behind him this season except on the boards, McCafferty handed out a lesson to some of the world’s finest runners, including Mike Tagg, the English National champion, whom he pipped in a thrilling finish.

His third place was the best by a Scot for a long time and I feel sure that had he challenged early, he could have pushed Taylor for second. Yet it is a pity that the main talking point among the spectators beforehand was whether he would turn up to run.

On the fine going, basic speed mattered more than usual and in the circumstances the home team did exceptionally well. Fergus Murray, only recently out of retirement, was well pleased with his 23^rd, three behind Lachie Stewart, who is still not quite at his best by his own high standards.

Gareth Bryan-Jones, who came into the team as a reserve, was the fifth counter in 43^rd position, seven behind Dick Wedlock, the Scottish champion, who was almost ‘out’ at the finish. Bill Mullet (54^th) was sixth counter.

Surprisingly, flu victim Jim Alder, the Scots captain, started – only to have the bitter disappointment of being forced to retire. “Ah kidded masel’ that I was fit,” he said disgustedly afterwards. But even without him, the Scottish packing was sound enough to secure fifth place in the team ratings. Here, England were magnificent winners, with their sixth-counting runner as high as 17^th.”

 (The finishing order was: England, France, Belgium, New Zealand and Scotland – thirteen countries took part, so Scotland were in front of Spain, Morocco, United States, Wales, Ireland, Tunisia, Northern Ireland and Canada.)

 Colin Youngson remembers spectating:

“Along with Aberdeen University Hare & Hounds team-mates, I travelled by mini-bus to Clydebank, relishing my first opportunity to watch this famous event. The programme was detailed and well-designed (featuring a photo of the SCCU President, Willie Diverty) and the pre-race atmosphere tense.

What do I remember from more than 50 years ago? How impressive the first two Senior Men were, racing (over 12 km) tactically, with powerful surges. After one lap, former Olympic Steeplechase gold medallist Gaston Roelants of Belgium, was fifty yards clear of Dick Taylor (England); after the second lap, Taylor was fifty yards clear of the Belgian! Third lap, Roelants had retaken the lead and was on the way to victory, eventually winning by 19 seconds, with Ian McCafferty third, a further 13 seconds back. The Scot was very impressive too, zooming up steep hills without apparent effort, and ‘easily’ outkicking Mike Tagg (by two seconds).

The Junior Men’s Championships (over 7 km)? Although 1968 winner John Bednarski (England – the silver medallist this time) fought hard, a tall slim dour figure ground him down impressively – future great, Dave Bedford, who went on to break the world record for 10,000m; and to become ICCU Senior Cross-Country Champion in 1971. David Gillanders of Scotland did well to finish ninth.

The Women’s race (over 4km) was a battle between USA and New Zealand, with the Americans having the edge. Doris Brown (USA) won the third of her five titles.”

 (The International Cross Country Championships have a fully detailed Wikipedia section, including complete results for every race from 1903 to 1972.)