This page focuses on the history of cross country running. For a very good book on the history of running in general, I suggest that you check out Why We Run: A Natural History
The history of cross country began in Britain. There is actually evidence that english school boys ran cross county as early as the 1830's. The first English cross country championship took place in 1876. However, since all 32 runners went off the course the race was declared void! In 1898 England and France got together for the first international championship. The international cross country championship steadly grew in popularity, and by the 1950's most US high schools and colleges were participating in cross country. In 1973, the IAAF (The International Amateur Athletic Federation) took control of the international championship and called it the World Cross Country Championships. This contributed greatly to the growth of the sport. In recent years, international cross country racing has been dominated by the Kenyans and Ethiopians. But maybe we high schoolers can change that one day!!
Scoring
In high school and college cross country you score meets by counting the top five runners on each
team. For example, lets say team A's runners come in 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th, and team B's runners come in 1st, 4th, 6th, 9th, and 10th. Team A's score would be
2+3+5+7+8 which equals 25, and team B's score would be 1+4+6+9+10 which equals 30.
Therefore, team A would win because they have the lower score. Now, high school and
college teams usually have 7 runners on a team. The 6th and 7th runners on a team are
used for displacement. So if your 6th runner comes in before the other team's 5th runner,
that highers the other team's score.
The Rules
There aren't many, but here are a few.
- Don't cut the course
- Don't excessively push, hit, or kick the other runners
- After the race, when you are in the chute, don't try to get ahead of the runners who beat you!