Cross Country Greats (02/10/2018)
- Details
- Published: 2 Oct 2018
Athletics Weekly is currently conducting a poll on who are the greatest cross country runners to have graced our sport. Within the list of "British Males" nominated is one of our own, Jack Holden
For those of you who who may not have come across him Jack was a supreme athlete on the track, road and cross country during the 1920's-50s'. He won the English National XC and International XC on numerous occasions. He won the International, now known as the World's, four times between 1933 and 1939.
Between 1929 and 1939 he placed in the top 10 of the National XC each year winning on three occasions. He won the Midland XC Championships no less than eight times - a record we think will unlikely be beaten. The war years certainly robbed Jack of further glories but he continued his athletics in the RAF and inspired many others he came into contact with. After the end of the war his career switched to the roads where he took up the marathon with great success peaking in 1950 by winning both the European Championships and the Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games).
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For more information on Jack you might explore the following articles in our archive.