hare
and hounds
Webster's NewWorld Dictionary
hare and hounds
a game in which some players, called
"hounds,” chase others, called
"hares,” who have left a trail of paper
scraps along their route
Cross-Country
Racing
Track and Field Sports
Colliers Encyclopedia
Cross-country
racing grew out of the ancient English schoolboy game
of “hares and hounds,” in which one boy,
playing the hare and given a head start, runs across
the countryside with his schoolmates in pursuit
across fields, hedges, streams, bogs, and hills. One
of the first cross-country races on record was the
“Crick Run” at Rugby School, first held in
1837. Cross-country as an adult sport began in the
fall of 1867 with a group of London oarsmen who
wanted to keep fit during the winter.