History 

Coburg Harriers Athletics Club was one of the first athletics clubs to be formed in Australia, with the early runs based on the cross country concept of ‘harriering’.

In 1890, Melbourne Harriers and Melbourne University, the first of the Victorian clubs, were formed. Hawthorn Harriers, Wesley College and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School (Collegians) quickly followed in 1891. These clubs became the Victorian Amateur Athletic Association on the 8th October 1891, six years earlier than the formation of the Amateur Athletics Association of Australia (8th October 1987).

The first Victorian Track and Field Championships were held on the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1892. Ballaarat (now Ballarat) Harriers also formed in 1891 with Malvern Harriers following in 1892.

At the Association’s opening run in 1895, 15 clubs took part: Collegians Harriers, Albert Park Harriers, Ballarat Hare and Hound, Melbourne Harriers, Kew Harriers, Ballarat Harriers, Malvem Harriers, Baroodara Harriers, Melbourne Hare and Hounds, Hawthorn Harriers, East Melbourne Harriers, St Lukes Harriers, Medical School Harriers, Ballaarat East Harriers, Prahran Harriers.

The Walkers Club, Clifton and Northcote Harriers and Bendigo Harriers also formed in 1895. Coburg Harriers, formed on 30th March 1896 just pipped Carlton Harriers with a formation date of 13th May 1896. 

Coburg Harriers now ranks as the 5th oldest of the continuous Victorian clubs.

To this day the Coburg Harriers Athletics Club maintains the traditions and aims laid down at the time the Club was founded. Nowhere has this been better expressed than by the Club motto, ‘Not the quarry but the chase, not the trophy but the race.’