These Scottish Friends Have Been To Five Continents To Watch The World Cross Country Championships

Scottish natives David John Condra and Niall Walker wore matching kilts and bright-yellow shirts on Saturday in Tallahassee. They continued their streak as fans of the world’s top cross country event.

Two friends from Scotland, Niall Walker (left) and David John Condra, have been to almost every single World Cross Country Championship event since 1999. Photo Credit via Cory Mull

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TALLAHASSEE, Florida — For David John Condra and Niall Walker, few things are more relaxing than a day at the park watching the globe’s very best runners zoom around an obstacle-laden course with eyes on fast times and hardware.

In fact, for much of the World Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday, the East Kilbride residents of Scotland stood against a rail inside a VIP tent, a golden ale in their hands, enjoying the scene and weather.

“It certainly is the Sunshine State,” said Condra, who lives about 40 minutes south of Glasgow. “It’s ideal for us two coming from Scotland, where it’s at this moment, cold and wet.”

The two long-time friends certainly brought a little bit of Scotland to Florida. They were wearing matching kilts and bright-yellow shirts. Condra wore his Scottish tweed cap backwards.

Runners begin the mixed relay at the start of the World Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Florida. Photo Credit via Steven Saccio

Both were also quite known to admirers of world cross country, including World Athletics president, Seb Coe.

Condra, a local runner in Scotland who enjoys running 800 meters up to 10,000 meters, had been to the last 18 world cross country championships. Walker had been to roughly as many.

The back of their shirts, in fact, highlighted it.

“We just love the sport,” Condra said. “We love traveling.”

“Have a good time,” Walker said, “meet people.”

Traveling The World To Take In World XC

From Belfast to Ostend, Lausanne to Brussels, and Bydgoszcz to Guiyang, the pair had traversed the globe and seen East African dominance take flight.

There was Aarhus, Bathurst, Belgrade and now Tallahassee.

Wherever the race took them, they went. And notably, the pair highlighted a diverse demographic of fans on Saturday, from teenagers and children to adults and parents from the U.S. and other countries. Visit Tallahassee reasonably estimated the full crowd to be somewhere in the range of "10,000 people," which would be an unofficial record for Apalachee Regional Park.

“It basically started in 1999 when we were all after the big national cross-country race in Scotland,” Condra said. “We went to the pub to have a few drinks and our friend — who has since passed away — said, ‘Why don’t you go to Belfast?’ The world cross country championships were in Belfast in 1999.”

That marked the starting point for a journey that has taken them to five continents (the only two missing right now are South American and Antarctica).

In 1999, Kenya’s Paul Tergat, who is now 56, won the world title. In 2001 and 2002, in Ostend, Belgium and Dublin, Ireland, they applauded when British runner Paula Radcliffe won back-to-back titles on the women’s side.

A Flip To The Script

Then the story took a unique spin.

In 2007, about eight years into their hobby and when the event was held in Mombasa, Kenya, they had trouble getting in. They didn’t have the right badges.

That’s when Coe stepped in.

“He helped us along,” Condra said.  

Eight years later, Coe came to the rescue again in Guiyang, China, and then again in 2024 in Belgrade, Serbia.

They sometimes even bump into Coe at team hotels. Now the pair say they’re on a first-name basis with Coe, a British middle-distance legend who was knighted in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth after landing the Olympics for the UK in London in 2012.

Some refer to him as “Lord Coe.”

Fans take in the sights and sounds of the World Cross Country Championships at Apalachee Regional Park on Saturday in Florida. Photo Credit: Steven Sacco

And as to why they love the sport so much?

To spend so many thousands of dollars traveling the globe for a small slice of sports entertainment?

It’s not for the faint of heart.

It’s also not a routine hobby.

“We’ve been asked this question quite often,” Contra said, “and it’s easy to say because if you go to the Olympics, if you go to big track meets, you’ll get the atmosphere. We’ve traveled around the globe to all these cross country courses, and we’ve found you can get so close to all the action.”

“It’s getting so close and being so hands on with people and meeting them. And that’s just the difference.”