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Like so many Oxford traditions, the origins of the Teddy Hall Relays are not entirely clear. Extensive research by the Old Gits confirms that the event has been around for "quite a
while," but nobody knows exactly how long. The best estimate places the
first race some time in the late-1950s or early-1960s. This research also bears out
the etymologist's suspicion that the event was founded by
students at St. Edmund Hall, a
college with a distinguished sporting
tradition. For the first 25 years or more the Teddy Hall Relays was
organized by its students and was a low-key affair, mostly attracting
college teams from within Oxford University, sometimes with a few teams
from local clubs or other universities. The route was shorter than it
is today, and it avoided the city centre.
The event changed substantially in 1988 when OUCCC teamed up with SEH to create a new relay race from two existing fixtures: the Teddy Hall Relays and the final race of OUCCC’s college league, a relatively dreary affair run through Iffley Village during Hilary Term. The Teddy Hall name was retained, because it sounded good, and because the college had a nice dining hall that could be used for the post-ra  ce tea. The route was very similar to the
one used today, but it avoided the Iffley Road sports centre and thus
measured just over three miles. The event became the final race in
OUCCC's college league series, and there was a surge in the
number of Oxford college teams, due to a new participation-biased
scoring system, or perhaps to prizes generously donated by
Morrell's Brewery. The race was more widely advertised than
before and this brought in a large number of teams from beyond Oxford.
In one year the event grew four-fold to around 120 teams. The overall
winner in 1988 was a team from RAF Brize Norton, and the first college
team was Worcester, which fielded eight teams to secure the
college league title. It was not until some years later that OUCCC entered a university team (something that traditionalists still frown upon). Prior to this, every Oxford runner competed for his or her college or department and it led to some memorable instances of an international athlete being teamed up with friends from the college bar, resulting in novice runners hurtling down Iffley Road in first place at the start of the second leg, with the more serious teams in hot pursuit. The mixed team category also did not appear until the 1990s. With the growth in participation, the Teddy Hall Relays was no longer suitable for its traditional start/finish point on Meadow Lane to the south of the University Sports Centre. Starting in 1989, the university allowed the race to use the famous Iffley Road track as its start/finish point. At that time the route entered the track via the OURFC ground, and it was a few years before the race settled on its current 3.6 mile route. Today the Teddy Hall Relays is an established part of the student running calendar, and it is the fifth race in the University Relays Series, attracting entries from university teams across the country and many teams from athletics clubs, services, and some of the OUCCC Old Gits who return each year to enjoy the event that they created. In 2008 more than 700 athletes participated and in 2009 the event was a focal point of Sir Roger Bannister's 80th birthday celebrations. Colin Phillips Worcester College, 1986-90 |