Unification of Hull Harriers & The Nightingales

Though the club was henceforward known as Hull Harriers many of its more prominent positions were at first held by former Nightingales with C.D. Hiscocks as Secretary and John Baker as Vice-Captain. However, by 1889 Charles Merrikin was President. The new club colours adopted in 1887 was an Oxford and Cambridge jersey with vertical stripes but this had been changed to pale blue and white by 1890. The central motif on the badge was a five-barred gate, as formerly used by the Nightingales. The now familiar three crowns motif was actually being used by a club called Boulevard Harriers at the end of the 1880s. Soon several championships were being organised. The original eight-mile route was from the Gardeners along Beverley Road down Dunswell Lane and back by New Village and Cottingham Roads. At that time, almost all of the route was through open countryside. Forty seven minutes was considered an exceptionally fast scratch time on this rough and sometimes rutted route.