Houston Harriers

Over forty years ago, in 1975, a group of runners – Jim McLatchie, Bob Cozens, Leonard Hilton, Simon McNamee, Donald Baxter, Al Lawrence, and Danny Green decided to start a running club. The club’s emphasis was to be on training, competition and development of runners. The original club endured over the years and established a cadre of great runners. Harriers won forty-seven (47) USA National Titles, two British Titles and three World Masters titles. Three Harriers have competed in the Olympic Games & IAAF World Track and Field Championships and two of the founding members competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1972 Olympic Games.  After a short hiatus, The Houston Harriers were reorganized in 2017.  Current Harriers include Olympic Trials qualifiers in the marathon along with many local open and master’s champions.

The purpose of the Houston Harriers running team is to promote competitive running within the Houston running community.  First and foremost, training & competition will be emphasized. The history and traditions of the club will remain as key tenets going forward. In addition to that, the Harriers are working on new events, as well as ideas for the future. One of our goals will be a Youth Program if there is enough interest, specifically targeting the running development of those in Middle School or equivalent. The objective of the program will be to foster a love of the sport and competition and expose kids to sport of cross country & track.  One constant is the development of the athlete, at whatever level that may be.

Locally the Harriers are active in road races, track meets and cross country races and the club encourages participation in the HARRA Spring and Fall Series. While the membership includes many ex-high school and college athletes, there are also many members who came to love running later in life.