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The race has its origin as the Old Boys’ Race. Although the first official contest was in December 1953, when 37 runners finished, there was a prologue on 8th March 1952 when Thames’ annual match against Rugby School was widened to include teams of old boys from Rugby, Repton, Winchester, Uppingham and Charterhouse. The Old Reptonians won.
About 60 schools have entered a team over the full history of the event, some for only the odd year and some with incomplete teams. As can be seen from the results, a team will have a good run of podium places for some years attributed to an enthusiastic convenor and loyal participants, until a new bunch arrive to challenge them. The number of participants has slowly crept up, accelerating over the past few years and is now above 300.
Thames hosts the Alumni Race, a 5-mile cross-country event in which runners compete for their old school, on Wimbledon Common.
This year’s race is on Saturday 16th September and our captain is Dillon McEvoy (O, 2005). He is already corralling a group of OD athletes for some pre-race training and strategy sessions.
If you are interested and would like to maintain – actually improve – the UK ODU standing (which is already high) – please get hold of Dillon at [email protected] or text him on +44 (0) 7881 038357 without delay!
