What is Cross Country?

NORMAN, Okla. -- It is one of the oldest forms of sport in humanity perhaps the oldest. In terms of participation, it is the most popular athletics contest anywhere on the globe. In terms of publicity, it isn't even on the map.

In 2006, the University of Oklahoma will celebrate its 79th season of men's cross country and 31st season of women's cross country in relative obscurity.

Cross country is the most basic form of sport. One competitor races another competitor, or one team races another team, over a course with the winner being the first to finish. It differs from road racing or track running principally in the course, which is generally a natural-terrain layout of grass, mud, woodlands and water; and scoring. The cross country "season" in temperate regions is run during autumn and winter when soft ground conditions prevail.

Oklahoma Roster | 2006 Schedule

Cross-country running, as an organized sport, originates from England. In the early 1800s, cross country was practiced in public schools. In 1850, undergraduates at Exeter College organized one of the first formal intercollegiate races. A two-mile cross country steeplechase was formed as part of Oxford University's sports curriculum in 1860, leading to the foundation of the modern steeplechase in track & field.

In 1868, members of the Thames Rowing Club, looking for winter exercise, organized a series of cross country events and competed against surrounding clubs. The number of clubs joining the league grew as the years passed and, in 1883, the English Cross Country Union was founded along with the first national championship in the sport.

In 1878, the sport was introduced to the United States by William C. Vosburgh, at first, serving mainly as training for track & field athletes. It eventually became a formal sport and was contested in the Olympic Games of 1910, 1920 and 1924, but was dropped afterwards due to it being an inappropriate summer sport.

The Amateur Athletic Association began conducting a national championship in 1880. In 1887, the National Cross Country Association was founded and held its first championship event.

Also in 1880, cross-country running was introduced at Harvard as an autumn training event for track & field distance runners and other colleges quickly followed the university's example. City College of New York, Cornell University, and the University of Pennsylvania took part in the first intercollegiate meet in 1890. The sport became especially popular at Cornell, which took the lead in organizing the Intercollegiate Cross Country Association in 1898.

The annual intercollegiate cross country championship grew out of a meet inaugurated by the Central Intercollegiate Conference in 1926. By 1938, so many schools began entering teams that the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) instituted it as a national championship.

Today, international competition, like that of track & field, is governed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which conducts the World Cross Country Championships. In 2006, the NCAA will host the 68th men's and 26th women's cross country national collegiate championships.

The cross country course is one that includes as many variances in terrain and slope possible in the area. Often, especially in intercollegiate athletics, courses are created on golf courses. In NCAA competition, distances vary from 2,000 to 15,000 meters (1.25 to 9.3 miles) with championship events run at 10,000 meters for men and 6,000 meters for women. However, courses share little in common with each other than distance. Therefore, accurate comparisons cannot be made between performances on different courses or even on the same course year to year as weather and terrain conditions can be significantly different.

Races are started together with each team beginning out of its own box. A gun or horn is blasted to signal the start, giving the runners a few hundred meters to converge from a wide starting line to a narrow course path which is followed until the finish line is reached.

The field size in a cross country event varies greatly. A dual meet between teams might include just 10 competitors, the NCAA Championships run 253 men and 253 women, and the largest open meets in the country often reach 400 runners.

NCAA cross country is scored on a team basis. Points are awarded to individual runners equal to their finish. For example, first place scores 1 point, second place scores 2, and so on. The combined point totals for the members of a team represent that team's score. Only the first five finishers of a team are counted in the team score. The sixth and seventh runners on a team, often referred to as "pushers" or "displacers", score displacement points, pushing the point total of the opponents finishing behind them higher.

The lowest possible score is 15 (1+2+3+4+5). This is achieved when a team's runners finish in the top five positions. In a dual meet, a match between two teams, the opponents would have a score of 40 (6+7+8+9+10). Of course, if the winning team's displacement runners finished sixth and seventh, the losing team would score 50 points (8+9+10+11+12). Thus, the official score of a forfeited dual meet is 15-50.

The cost-effectiveness of cross country is represented in its equipment, making the sport one of the most common among colleges and universities. Even institutions without track & field may support a cross country program.

Runners wear shorts and a singlet. Footwear is usually a pair of spikes, a light running shoe with a rigid sole into which spikes can be screwed. The length of spikes used depends on the conditions. Studded shoes, with the rubber sole molded into patterns of studs, are often used on drier courses.

While each race is won by an exceptional individual, it is often the battles between runners in mid-pack that determine which team wins. Coaches move throughout the course, dictating strategy and motivating their runners. Race strategy differs from team to team, but the most common including running the team in a pack from start to finish; deploying a "rabbit" to lure competitors into pushing too hard, too early; and "kicking", staying on the shoulder of the leader until the last few meters, then sprinting to the finish.

The race itself is a large battle consisting of many smaller fights. Running makes up only a portion of the race. The dirtiest cross country runner will throw elbows or spike a competitor to throw him or her off their rhythm. There are many stories of punches being thrown in woodland events when out of view of the public's eye.

Many notable American track & field distance runners also competed in cross country during their careers. They include Olympic 10,000 meter champion Billy Mills, the late Steve Prefontaine, and American 5,000 meter record holder Bob Kennedy. Craig Virgin is the only American man to win the World Cross Country Championships, doing so in 1980 and 1981. Lynn Jennings is the only American woman to win at the World Championships, and one of only three to win three or more consecutive times (1990-92).

What drives someone to run through muddy ground in freezing temperatures wearing practically nothing, only to regurgitate what little breakfast they ate at the finish and gain notoriety from competitors and the few in attendance? Winning.

Who would endure such an environment for such simple gratification? A true athlete.

What do cross country runners want you to remember? Simply that football is not the only sport in session this fall.