The History of Cross-Country World Wide

Timothy Meade, International Studies Academy, Wat it do, ISA? (Fall 2006):

The sport now known as Cross-Country began in England as a game called “Hare and Hounds or “The Paper Chase” in the 19th century. A runner or a group of runners laid a trail by dropping pieces of paper or other markers while following a random course, then a second group would set out in pursuit trying to follow the trail.

The first formal competition known as the Crick Run was first held at the Rugby School in 1837. The English Cross-Country Championship was established in 1876. Two years after this a man named William C. Vosburgh of New York introduced the sport to the United States of America. Later in 1887 the National Cross-Country Association was founded. Then the Amateur Athletic Association began conducting the cross-country championship in 1880.

The first intercollegiate meet, which was conducted in the year 1890, consisted of City College of New York, Cornell, and The University of Pennsylvania. Then, in the year 1898 the first International Cross-Country Racing began between England and France. It became a true international event in the year 1907. Cross-Country eventually got on the Olympic program in the years 1912, 1920, and 1924 then was dropped after that because it was not considered a suitable sport for summer competition.

The IAAF, International Amateur Athletic Federation, which is in charge of Track and Field world wide, took control of all cross country activities in 1926, establishing set rules for both the men and women.

The first women’s world championship meet was held in the year 1967, a year after the AAU, Amateur Athletic Union, established a national championship for women.

The annual NCAA, or the National Collegiate Athletic Association, cross-country championship grew out of a meet held by the Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC) in 1926. During the period of the 1930’s, a great many schools began entering their teams and the NCAA had to take it over as a national championship event in 1938.

Although most cross country competitors run distance events in track and field along with the cross-country events, the two sports are not only separate but they are completely different. The cross-country season is still held in the fall and events run through open country, not roads or tracks.

There is no standardized cross-country distance. IAAF rules specify minimum requirements for international competition of 12,000 meters, which is about 7.5 miles for men and a distance between 2,000 to 5,000 meters, about 1.25 to 3 miles for women. Also since distances and difficulty are so varied, world records are not kept for this event.

The team competition is very important to cross-country. Teams are made up of five to nine runners and the order of finish is determined by adding up the places that each team member finished in, so it would be 1 point given for a first place position, 2 points for a second place position and so on. The team with the lowest score would win.

(Credit for information given to hickoksports.com without which this article could not have been completed.)