London Metropolitan Cross Country League

The league was founded on 23 March 1966 when eight of the major London athletic clubs met at the Primrose public house in Bishopsgate to discuss cross country competition. All clubs signed up and the first fixture was held in October that year at Hainault Forest. Nine clubs entered over 260 athletes in the two races: one for seniors and juniors, the other for youths and boys. For the first five years there were only four matches per season but this expanded to five in 1971.

The league was sponsored by the athletics retailer London City Runner until 2013, when the events promoter Active Training World took the rights. Start Fitness is the current sponsor.

Athletes are awarded points dependent on their finishing position in the race: the higher the position, the more points accrued. For senior men, the total points from the top 12 athletes at a club make up their 'A' team score. The next 12 athletes to finish at that club (i.e. positions 13-24) count towards the 'B' team. For senior women only six athletes make up a team.

At the end of the season, the team with the most points is declared the champion.

Independent runners are allowed to run for a small surcharge.

The five venues are decided before the start of every season and are chosen from Alexandra Palace, Chingford, Claybury, Cranford, Hainault Forest, Hilly Fields (Enfield), Horsenden Hill, Parliament Hill, Ruislip, St Albans, Stevenage, Trent Park, Welwyn Garden City and Wormwood Scrubs.

There are ten clubs in Divisions One and Two with larger numbers in Division Three in the senior women and senior and veteran men categories.[1] Larger clubs enter up to three teams of runners into the league, while smaller clubs only enter one.

Below are tables showing teams in each league from 2015–6. Bracketed numbers are numbers of scorers per team in that league.