Cross-country race
A Cross-country race is any running race that takes place on different types of terrain. Different levels of competition include middle school 2 mi (3.2 km), high school 5 km (3.1 mi), collegiate men 8 km (5.0 mi) and 10 km (6.2 mi), women 5km (3.1 mi) and 6 km (3.7 mi), amateur, and professional.
The scoring in these events gives one point to the winner, two points to the person who finished second, and so on. In an invitational or meet where teams of runners count up the points of their top five finishers. This is their score. The team with the lowest score wins. If there is a tie, the team with the fastest sixth man wins.
Times in races depend on the terrain, weather, and the other runners. This means that two athletes competing in different places in the world who are running the same time might not be at the same ability level.
Cross-country Race Media
A children's cross country competition in Croatia
The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start
Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Portugal
Individual cross country race at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. The left trio is Edvin Wide, Ville Ritola and Paavo Nurmi. Due to the hot weather (over 40 °C (104 °F)) only 15 out of 38 competitors (elite long-distance runners) finished the race.
Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet, University of Minnesota
The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet
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Related pages
Other websites
- U. S. Cross-Country Championships Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
- 2008 USATF Competition Rules / Article IV Rules of Competition / Section VIII Cross Country Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine