Oxford against Cambridge. Two Blues races, the Old Blues’, and a winter afternoon on Wimbledon Common.
The University Cross Country Races bring Oxford and Cambridge together for the second oldest team contest in the sport. In an eight v. eight match, a rarity now in the modern sport, athletes from both universities tackle the iconic Wimbledon Common course on the first Saturday of December, racing for the honour of their university.
Hosted by Thames Hare & Hounds, the oldest cross-country club in the world, the course takes in the iconic water splash, the muddy Butts and the Windmill.
Photography: Graham Smith Photography, 2025
Three races share the afternoon, starting with the Old Blues’ and ending with the Gentlemen’s.
Photography: Graham Smith Photography, 2025
Teams, course and race notes. The 2026 edition will be published here the week before the race.
The races start and finish at Thames Hare & Hounds’ headquarters, Memorial Playing Fields (the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields), Roehampton Vale, London SW15 3PQ. There is no railway station nearby, so most visitors arrive by bus or car.
Three routes serve the stops at Roehampton Vale / Asda: the 85 (Putney Bridge – Kingston), the 265 (Putney Bridge – Tolworth) and the K3 (Roehampton Vale – Kingston – Esher). The 265 and K3 also call at Vale Crescent / Robin Hood. The clubhouse is a 5 to 10 minute walk from each stop.
The nearest stations are in Putney and Wimbledon, both a bus ride away. From Putney Station, the 85 runs direct to Roehampton Vale; from Putney Bridge (District line), take the 85 or 265. Check Saturday times on the TfL Journey Planner before you travel.
Free parking at the car park by the clubhouse. It can be busy on Saturdays because of rugby and football on the playing fields, so arrive early. The surrounding streets also have free parking.
Open the headquarters in Google Maps ↗ · TfL Journey Planner ↗
The course loops back on itself, so one walk across the Common gives you several views of the same race. Start at the finish, then move.
All three races start and finish on the west side of Beverley Brook, just across the brick bridge by the Thames clubhouse.
Reached shortly after the start, as the runners cross Beverley Brook from the Commons Extension playing fields. A new water splash was used in 2025.
Usually the muddiest part of the course, a mile or so from the finish.
A good viewing point: the Ladies’ race passes once and the Gentlemen’s race three times, and the café there serves refreshments.
Please: keep clear of the racing line, allow time to move between points and follow marshals’ instructions. Paths are wet and slippery in winter. The Common is shared with a golf course whose fairways are not always obvious, so watch where you walk. If you follow on a bicycle, keep to the cycle routes, and keep off the pitches on the Memorial Playing Fields.
Each Blues team fields eight athletes.
The first six finishers from each university score their finishing positions.
The six positions are added together. The lower total takes the match.
Every runner counts. A team’s seventh and eighth runners do not score, but they can still help win the match. Each one who finishes ahead of the other university’s scoring runners pushes those runners one place further back, and that adds to the other team’s total.
A tie goes to the team whose last scoring runner finishes nearest to first place. If those two runners dead-heat, the match is a draw.
Open to all former members and alumni of the Oxford University Cross Country Club (OUCCC) and Cambridge University Hare & Hounds (CUH&H). Current students are welcome to run but do not score in the race.
The 34th Old Blues’ Race opens the afternoon over approximately 4 miles. It is a mob match, scored on team depth. Oxford won in 2025, and Peter Molloy (Trinity, Cambridge) was first home in 21:20.
The second and third teams and the Mob Matches race a week earlier, at Shotover Country Park near Oxford.
Race day depends on people willing to help with marshalling, timing and everything in between.
