When James Kingston, 24, from Kent, crossed the line to win his first UK National Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships title at Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Nottingham, on Saturday, 7th March 2026, he was probably unaware of the historical significance of his victory.

This was the 100th anniversary of the inaugural Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships held at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, on Saturday, 3rd April 1926, for men only. This year's spectacular featured a 13-race programme, with 2,762 athletes selected to represent up to 40 eligible counties – an increase of 107 runners after the introduction of races for under-11s.

While last year's races were held during a relative heatwave, this year's event was cool and dry, with a conspicuous absence of mud. Kingston's gold medal performance was a victory for his persistence in racing and diligence in training, as he explained to the athletics press: “I think I did most of the work, and after 12 weeks of 100 miles a week, you know you are strong. I now have six medals from the National and Inter-Counties in the last few years.”

Kingston's tally includes the English National title in 2023, and silver and bronze medals in both of England's flagship cross country championships, including silver in the National last month – as we reported here in runABC.

The men's podium was filled by Jacob Cann (Sussex) and Richard Slade (Buckinghamshire) – pictured above, alongside Kingston in the blue Kent vest – but it was team glory for Yorkshire from Surrey and the North East. In the deeper 9-to-score team race, it was gold for North East, followed by Lincolnshire and Greater Manchester. An impressive 35 counties fielded full teams.

Jess Gibbon, 29, running for Oxfordshire, was favourite to retain her UK National Inter-Counties title and duly delivered under pressure from Eleanor Curran, who was running as an individual for Leeds City AC, and Niamh Bridson-Hubbard (Kent) – just 10 seconds covering the top three.

Surrey dominated the counties' team race, winning by more than 200 points from Northern Ireland and Yorkshire, as 32 counties' teams completed the race.

Yorkshire was the most successful county with three team titles from the 10 scoring races. The other gold medal winners were Scotland West (2), Surrey (2), Middlesex, Kent and Cheshire, with one each.

Full results of all the races by FR Systems are at the runABC race listing here.

Photo of Inter-Counties Senior Men's race courtesy of Mark Hookway, Tonbridge AC