History

As a competitive sport, cross-country running began in England with a game called "hare and hounds" or "the paper chase" in the early 19th century. In this game, a runner or group of runners laid a trail by dropping pieces of paper or other markers while following a random course, and a second set of runners then set out in pursuit, trying to follow the paper trail.

The first formal competition was the Crick Run, first held at Rugby School in 1837. Many other public schools soon established similar events, followed by Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Although hare and hounds continued to be popular at schools, in important competition the game became a cross-country race along a course laid out in advance over open country.

In 1878, the sport was introduced into the United States by William C. Vosburgh. At first, the sport served mainly as training for summer track and field athletics. Nine years later, cross country running became a formal sport in the United States. Despite the international popularity of cross-country, the sport was dropped from the Olympic Games after 1924 due to it being an inappropriate summer sport. In the 1960s, the International Amateur Athletic Federation, which regulates cross-country running, allowed women to run for the first time.

The sport is still popular in temperate countries, but is relatively unknown in Asia. Although most cross-country competitors also run distance events in track and field, the two are separate sports. The cross-country season is still the fall and events are run through open country, often over rather rude trails, not on roads or tracks (although major races often begin and end on a track inside a stadium). In recent years, courses have tended to change to faster, drier courses than the traditional ones.

There is no standardized cross-country distance. IAAF rules specify minimums for international competition of 12,000 meters (about 7.5 miles) for men and 2,000 to 5,000 meters (about 1.25 to 3 miles) for women. Since distances and difficulty vary, world records are not kept for the event.

Team competition is very important in cross-country. Teams are made up of five to nine runners and the order of finish is determined by adding up the places in which team members finish - that is, 1 point is awarded for a first-place, 2 points for second, and so on. The team with the lowest score wins.