Running
Running is one of the most popular activities taking place on the Commons, from keen amateurs to professional athletes, running alone or with one of the several clubs that use the Commons regularly, or indeed are based on the Commons.
The Commons including the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields, host a number of organised running clubs and societies including:
- Belgrave Harriers
- Hercules Wimbledon
- South London Harriers
- Thames Hare & Hounds - The world’s first and oldest cross country club, running on Wimbledon Common since 1868.
- Common Runners - A women-only Running club offering small group training courses and ad hoc social runs.
- The Veterans Athletic Club (VAC)
- Wimbledon Windmilers, identified by their Windmill logo, have met at the Windmill every Sunday since the club was founded in 1980.
- South London Orienteers & Wayfarers (SLOW) hold regular events on The Commons.
- Parkrun - A free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event. Walk, jog, run, volunteer or spectate
Charity runs, from 5ks to half-marathons, and school cross country races are also regularly staged across the Commons, with major events this year including the RunThrough Wimbledon 10k and Half-Marathons - on various dates starting on April 6th - and the Oxford vs Cambridge Blues Varsity Match in December.
A History of Running on the Commons
As a physical pursuit, running on the Commons dates back to 1867 when a group of rowers from the Thames Rowing Club, in an effort to keep fit in Winter, organised a 2.5-mile steeplechase on Wimbledon Common – the very first organised crosscountry event in Britain.
Other races followed, evolving into a popular paper chase. Within a year early participants founded the Thames Hare and Hounds club – the first and oldest crosscountry running club in the world.
Through the decades many TH&H have gone on to write sporting history: most famously Roger Bannister running the very first fourminute mile in 1954 and Chris Brasher found the London Marathon in 1981.
THAH’s original testing ground remains provides the perfect setting for numerous races today; the club still hosts the Oxford-Cambridge University Cross-Country Races from its Wimbledon Common clubhouse.