More on the New York Athletic Club Cross Country Course that Crossed Much of Pelham Manor in the Early 1900s

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

It is hard to imagine for the many, many Pelham Manor residents who live between Shore Road and the Branch Line railroad tracks that cross Pelhamdale Avenue at Trestle Field, but that area once was virtually pristine woods and meadows and was used by the New York Athletic Club to lay out a nationally-famous cross country course on which major cross country championship races were held.  Indeed, as noted before by Historic Pelham, "In 1903 and 1904, the large area of Pelham Manor bounded by Shore Road, the boundary with Pelham Bay Park in New York City, Pelhamdale Avenue and the railroad tracks along which Pelham Manor Station once stood looked very different than it does today. The area was virtually undeveloped with heavy woods. Indeed, before the area was developed it was widely used as a picnic ground."  See Tue., Sep. 13, 2016:  Notable 1903 and 1904 Cross-Country Championships Were Run on a Course Between Travers Island and Pelham Manor Station.  

In the earliest years of the 20th century, the New York Athletic Club was still an international force in the sport of Cross-Country.  Indeed, "The thirteen years extending from 1891 to 1903 are considered by many to be the Golden Age of NYAC's track and field history."  The Winged Foot, Vol. 62, p. 99 (1951).  

In 1903 and 1904, the cross-country course was the site of very significant competitions. On November 4, 1903, the "Cross-Country Championship of America" was held on the course. John Joyce of the Pastime Athletic Club ran the six-mile course with a time of 32:23-4/5ths. 

Only three weeks later on November 25, 1903, the "Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship" was run on the course with teams from Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. W. E. Schutt of Cornell won the six-mile race with a time of 53:15. Cornell finished first among the six teams that competed. 

The following year, on November 23, 1904, the Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship was run again on the same course. Unlike the previous year, this championship was for eastern teams with a separate championship scheduled for western teams. E. T. Newman of Cornell won the six-mile race with a time of 32:52. Once again, Cornell finished first among the five teams that qualified and competed.

Lest one believe that the only races run on the course were Intercollegiate championships, news reports make clear that in these same years the course was used for a host of other cross country races.  Indeed, on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1904 (the day after the 1904 Intercollegiate Cross Country Championship held on the course), the Metropolitan Cross Country Championships, senior and junior, were held on the course.  

News accounts of such races give some sense of the nature of the course that once covered the area.  For example, it appears that the cross-country races typically began and ended on the oval running track on the grounds of Travers Island.  The course was two miles long with runners making three laps of the course to complete a race.  Additionally, one of the more difficult aspects of the course was a fourteen foot water jump with shrubbery in front of it that runners had to leap over and run out of the water to the extent they could not clear the entire obstacle.  

The area of the course extended between Travers Island and the Pelham Manor Train Station at a time when the station still existed and served passengers and commuters who traveled between Pelham Manor and New York City.  This area, for a time, was a national focus as newspapers from coast to coast reported on the Intercollegiate Cross Country Championships in 1903 and 1904.

Detail from Plate 24 of the John F. Fairchild Atlas of the City of

Mount Vernon and the Town of Pelham Published in 1899 Showing

the Area of the NYAC Cross-Country Course. NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"CORNELL AN EASY WINNER
-----
CAPTURES THE INTERCOLLEGIATE CROSS COUNTRY RUN.
-----
Pennsylvania Second, Yale Third, Harvard Fourth and Columbia Last -- Four Out of Seven Ithacans Entered Come in First in the First Five Places -- Yale Man Comes in Third.

New York, Nov. 23. -- Cornell's sturdy athletes once more captured the inter-collegiate cross country championship, in the run to-day, over the course between Pelham Manor station and the home of the New York Athletic club on Travers' Island in Long Island sound.  Five teams, made up of thirty-four runners representing Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, took part in the contest, and of the seven men who carried the Ithacan colors, four finished in the first five places, winning the honor with a total of 12 points.  E. T. Newman of Cornell led the big field during the greater part of the journey and finished fully fifty yards in front of his teammate, C. F. Magoffin, who in turn was a like distance ahead of W. J. Hall of Yale.  Nearly 100 yards back of these three leaders were D. C. Munson and A. Starr, both of Cornell.  The sixth place was won by C. D. MacDonald of Columbia, while W. G. Howard of Harvard was seventh and C. R. Major of the University of Pennsylvania, eighth.

Newman's time, 32:52, is 23 seconds faster than the time of his college mate, Schutt, made on the same course, a little over six miles, a year ago.

Cornell's colors were always in the van and while every one expected that the Ithaca men would win very few thought that they would be so well to the fore at the finish.  To-day's contest was the sixth event or its kind which has taken place under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Cross Country association of amateur athletes of America, and Cornell has won five times, upon the birth of an heir and tendering have been improved upon, and the race was well contested throughout.

Following is the result by points:

Cornell, first with 12; Pennsylvania second, with 41; Yale third, with 51; Harvard fourth with 52, and Columbia last with 73."

Source:  CORNELL AN EASY WINNER -- CAPTURES THE INTERCOLLEGIATE CROSS COUNTRY RUN -- Pennsylvania Second, Yale Third, Harvard Fourth and Columbia Last -- Four Out of Seven Ithacans Entered Come in First in the First Five Places -- Yale Man Comes in Third, Journal Courier [New Haven, CT], Nov. 24, 1904, Vol. LXX, No. 238, p. 1, col. 4.  

"CORNELL'S SWIFT RUNNERS.
-----
For the Fifth Time Won the Cross Country Event.
-----

New York, Nov. 23. -- Cornell's sturdy athletes have once more captured the inter-collegiate cross country championship in a run today over the course between Pelham Manor station and the home of the New York Athletic club on Travers Island, in Long Island Sound.  Five teams made up of thirty-four runners representing Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania took part in the contest and of the seven men who carried the Ithacan colors, four finished in the first four places, winning the honor, with a total of twelve points.

Today's contest was the sixth event of its kind which has taken place under the auspices of the inter-collegiate cross country association of amateur athletes of American and Cornell has won five times."

Source:  CORNELL'S SWIFT RUNNERS -- For the Fifth Time Won the Cross Country Event, The Arizona Republican [Phoenix, AZ], Nov. 24, 1904, Vol. XV, No. 187, p. 1, col. 6.

"Cross-Country Championships.

The revival last year on Election Day of the once popular paper chase, or hare and hounds run, elevated and dignified into a general competition for all registered amateur athletes, under the sonorous title of Cross-Country Championships, will be repeated this year.  The Marathon Race at the Olympic Games at the St. Louis World's Fair covered some of the elements and purposes of this method of testing the ability of athletes for sustained effort in running, but could not compare with a cross-country run as managed here in value or interest.  The second annual Cross-Country Championships will be started at 1.30 P.M., Tuesday, November 8, Election Day, at Travers Island.  The entries include runners of wiry muscles and good wind, and the winners will not have a walk-over.  With the good fortune of crisp, cool, bracing weather this will be one of the interesting events of Election Day in the vicinity of the Metropolis."

Source:  "Cross-Country Championships" in New York Athletic Club Journal, Vol. XIII, No. 11, p. 28 (Nov., 1904).

"Cross Country Championships.

The Metropolitan Cross Country Championships, senior and junior, were run on Thursday, Nov. 24, Thanksgiving Day, at Travers Island.  The winner was an Irishman from County Galway, J. J. Daly, although he represented the Greater New York Irish Athletic Association of the Borough of Queens.  The race was under N. Y. A. C. auspices, the start and finish being on Travers Island track.

The runners covered the course three times.  At the very start Daly dashed ahead, took the lead and covered the first lap of the three in 10.46 2-5.  Each lap measured two miles, and the final sprint was over the N. Y. A. C. track for a quarter of a mile.  For the first three miles John J. Joyce, his team mate, was the only man of the field of thirty able to keep at his heels.  When half of the second circuit had been covered Joyce turned the weak ankle that had prevented him from competing at St. Louis, and was forced to retire from the race.  This withdrawal left no one in the race who could force Daly to extend himself, so that it is hard to compare his running with that of Newman, of Cornell, who Wednesday covered the course in better time by eleven seconds than did Daly.  At the finish of the second lap Daly had a lead of two hundred yards on Carr of the Xaviers, who was being hard pressed by W. G. Frank, of the Irish A. C.  Three hundreds yards behind.  Newton was leading the second squad.

Daly came out of the woods for the final dash seemingly as strong as he was at the start, and, unlike most of the other runners, he neither stepped on the hedge in front of the fourteen foot water jump nor fell into the pool, but easily hurdled both and sprinted over the last hundred yards.

He covered the six and a quarter miles in 33 m. 11 s.  Twenty-two seconds afterward Carr came in, with the veteran runner Frank forty yards behind.

The Xavier A. C. team of five men won the club trophy with a score of 35 points, the Greater N. Y. I. A. A. took second place with 62, and the New West Side A. C. third with 65, and the Star A. C. fourth with 77.

M. Spring, of the Pastime Athletic Club, and winner of the last Boston Marathon road race, set the pace throughout the entire distance in the junior championship race.  Sullivan, from the same club, was at his heels at the conclusion of the first two miles, but from there on Spring increased his lead at each step, until he reached the tape a hundred yards ahead of Farrell, of the Star A. C.

The Pastime A. C. scored 38 points; the St. Bartholomew A. C., 48; the Mohawk A. C., 90; the Starr A. C., 92, and the Mort Haven A. C. came last with 111.  Summary:

Winners -- Senior Championship -- J. J. Daly (G. N. Y. I. A. A.), first, 33.11; E. P. Carr (X. A. C.), second, 33.33; W. G. Frank (G. N. Y. I. A. A.), third, 33.40; J. Foy (S. A. C.), fourth, 34.48; E. Coates (X. A. C.), fifth, 35.02; A. L. Newton (N. Y. A. C.), sixth, 35.18; R. Todd (N. W. S. A. C.), seventh, 35.23; C. Andrews (X. A. C.) eighth, 35.40; J. Burns (X. A. C.), ninth, 36.14; P. H. Pilgrim (N. Y. A. C.), tenth, 36.22.

Junior Championships -- M. Spring (P. A. C.), first, 34.18; J. J. Farrell (S. A. C.), second, 34.34; J. Hayes (St. B. A. C.), third, 34-37; W. C. Bailey (Mohawk A. C.), fourth, 34-42; P. Smallwood (P. A. C.), fifth, 34-43; J. N. Lonergan (National A. C.), sixth, 34.50; J. Sullivan (St. B. A. C.), seventh, 35.08; L. P. Marks (P. A. C.), eighth, 35.09; D. Miller (N. Y. A. C.), tenth, 35.28."

Source:  "Cross Country Championships" in New York Athletic Club Journal, Vol. XIII, No. 12, p. 22 (Dec., 1904).

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."