Annual Alfie Shrubb 8K Classic  ›  Original

This is the original medal that Alfie Won July 19, 1902

July 1902 saw Shrubb pencilled in to race at a series of major fixtures and he decided to use minor local meets to help him prepare for this crucial month. At a Horsham Cycling Club evening fixture, he hardly broke sweat when winning a two-mile flat race in 9.28.4, toying with the opposition and staying in a group until the closing stages when he powered ahead to win by 12 yards. He appeared to be breathing easily at the finish and it was hard to comprehend how he’d managed to record this world-class time in such casual fashion.

There was a very cosmopolitan gathering for the big AAA championship meeting at Stamford Bridge in July, with athletes from the USA, New Zealand and Hungary challenging the cream of the home nations. Although Shrubb won the four-mile event in fine style, for once he found he wasn’t the centre of attention on this excellent day of athletics. Twenty-seven-year-old Joe Binks of Unity AC ran the race of his life in the Mile, smashing the seven-year-old British record. Shrubb had also entered the Mile and was a central figure in a last lap filled with drama. As the leaders hit the home straight for the final time, two of the five contenders, Shrubb and E.L.Gay-Roberts of Oxford University, both found they had no gas left in the tank for a late sprint and simply walked off the track. Lieutenant Henry Hawtrey of London AC held a narrow lead from Binks, who suddenly surged late for the line to win in an amateur record of 4.16.8. His time would not be beaten by a Briton for 19 years, with Henry Stallard’s 4.14.2 eclipsing it in 1921.

A crowd of around 8,000 basked in the Stamford Bridge sunshine and were entertained by the London Victoria Military band. Shrubb’s main event, over four miles, was an hour after the end of the Mile. It got off to a painful start when he was spiked by a fellow athlete’s shoe in the rush for an early lead. It was a nasty wound, but Shrubb stayed on his feet and ran on, only feeling real pain when the race was over. The event turned into something of a procession, with Shrubb always in control and coming home in 20.01.4, a good 90 yards ahead of Herne Hill’s Fred Appleby, with A.F.Simpson of New Zealand a long way back in third. Shrubb’s leg wound failed to heal properly for a number of weeks but he bandaged it up and didn’t miss any events because of it.

The following weekend, July 19, saw Shrubb and several other leading distance men heading for the city of Chelmsford in Essex for the prestigious annual Essex championships, which were probably the second-biggest event in the country at the time, behind the national championships. A bumper 8,000 crowd turned up, hoping to cheer Shrubb to his third successive win in the three-mile race for huge and valuable Atalanta Cup. He was in great form on the springy grass track and sprinted home alone in 14.25, creating a new world record for three miles on grass. It beat James Kibblewhite’s 1889 record, set at Kennington Oval, South London, and to mark the achievement Shrubb was awarded a gold medal, which he would later describe as one of his proudest possessions.

The enormous Atalanta trophy - which Shrubb reckoned was one of the largest sporting cups in the world - was his for another year thanks to a stunning run that had been the best of his three winning appearances at Chelmsford thus far. He’d simply stormed home, finishing 200 yards ahead of Aldridge, with Appleby third. Shrubb’s mile splits were 4.40, 4.59 and 4.46. He obliterated Kibblewhite’s 13-year-old grass world record by eleven seconds.

The medal that the distinguished Major Rasch presented to Shrubb has now -103 years later - been specially replicated for presentation to all participants in the Alfie Shrubb /Museum 8k race in Bowmanville, Ontario, the town where Shrubb would ultimately spend the last 43 years of his life. Although he died back in 1964, the old runner would undoubtedly be proud to see modern-day runners enjoying their running and taking home a souvenir to remind them about Shrubb’s golden days as a champion.