THE 1930 WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY RACE

THE 1930 WAAA CHAMPIONSHIP

The Women's Amateur Athletic Association Cross Country Championship was first held in 1927. The fourth event in the series was held at Stacey Hill Farm on Saturday 15 February 1930.

Special trains were organised from Euston Station in London and the London, Midland, Scottish Railway offered special ticket rates for visitors coming to Wolverton on the day from any of its stations within a 60 mile radius of the town.

It would appear that the event was very popular as approximately 4000 people watched the race.

PATHE NEWSREEL OF THE EVENT

The event was filmed by Pathe for a newsreel shown in cinemas around the country. This film (and selected stills from it) can be viewed here. Copyright restrictions prevent the Museum from placing a copy of the film directly on this site.

THE RACE

The race was run over a course of approximately three miles.

Over 200 runners entered, the largest entry to that date although the number of starters was somewhat less. 

The race was started by Captain Sir George Bowyer, who was MP for North Bucks at the time.  According to the local newspapers 140 runners (comprising 17 teams and 8 individuals) took part and 122 finished. It is somewhat surprising today to see that the local newspaper mentioned that there had been "hardly any casualties".

The report in the following week's Wolverton Express said that it was a close race and the times certainly suggest this.

The winner was Lilian Styles of Littlehampton Athletics Club. She was an excellent runner who won six of the first eleven women's "National" events.

It was, according to the reports, a very cold day. This may have contributed to the relatively large number of non-starters although there is no mention of this being a factor in contemporary reports. 

The event was recorded by a film company although it is not known if any footage of the race has survived. 

Although the race was held at Stacey Hill it seems as though most of the changing and refreshment facilities on the day were provided by Wolverton Works, which is around half a mile from the farm. Tea was taken after the race in one of the main dining halls. 

RESULTS

1 Lilian Styles (Littlehampton) 20 minutes 59.2 seconds;
2 Ruth Christmas (London Olympiades), 21 minutes, 15 seconds;
3 Gladys Lunn (Birchfield Harriers), 21 minutes, 21 seconds;

Team: Westbury Harriers.

The Contemporary Newspaper Reports provide a lot of information about the event including details of the results and names of stewards.

MORE ABOUT THE RUNNERS

What Else Did The Winners Win?

In an era when women were not exactly encouraged to participate in "endurance" sports like cross-country Lilian Styles (born 1905) was clearly a dominant force. She won the race in the two preceding years and went on to win three more for a total of six Championships. This is a record for women or men. She was also second in the International Cross Country in 1931 and 1933, and third in 1932.

Ruth Christmas (born 12/11/1904) won the WAAA 800m title in 1933, the first year the two lap track event was run over the metric distance. On 5 August 1929 she set a world record for the 800m of 2.22.7. European record for the Mile.

Gladys Lunn (born 1 June 1908) won the WAAA 880yds title in 1930, 1931, 1932 and the 800m title in 1934, 1937. She also won the WAAA Mile in 1936 and 1937, these being the first tow years that women competed over this distance at the annual WAAA Championship. She also won the javelin event at the 1937 WAAA Championship to complete what must be a unique treble!

She won the 880yds and the Javelin at the 1934 Empire (Commonwealth) Games winner.  She won Jevelin Bronze at the 1938 event.

On 16 August 1930 she ran 2.18.2 for the 800m to break the world record set by Ruth Christmas the year before. She also set two world records for 1000m and a European record for the Mile. At this time events over such "long" distances were rarely recognised by the sport's official bodies. Ruth Christmas also set an unofficial record for the Mile.

Gladys Lunn won the WAAA Cross Country Championship in 1933 and 1934 and the International Cross Country race in 1931 and 1932. 

Lunn won the 800m at the FSFI Games in 1930 and was third 1934. These events had been organised in response to non-inclusion of women's events at Olympic Games and are regarded as (at least) unofficial World Championships. 

At the International Cross Country Championship held in Croydon on 19 March 1932, Lunn, Styles and Christmas finished first, third and fourth respectively to win the team prize for England. At the 1931 event, held 22 March, they had finished 1, 2, 4. 

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