The World Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international Cross country running. Held annually and organized by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the International Cross Country Championships.

Cross country is an organized sport that originated from the Crick Run, that has been held every year since 1837 at Rugby School in England. By the early 19th century the sport was practiced in all private schools and it’s popularity continued to rise from there.

The World Cross Country Championships is among the most difficult races to win on the planet, simply because of the sheer volume of high caliber athletes participating in the same race. Some even rate it as more difficult to win than the Olympic Games. In fact Cross country became a part of the Olympic Games in 1912 until 1924 when it was dropped because many saw it as an inappropriate summer sport.

But many would like to see it reinstated including some of the greatest distance kings on the planet.

Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya’s Paul Tergat made a request in a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The IOC has already referred the letter to the IAAF, since they are responsible for granting such a request.

I am a big fan of cross country running. It is always a treat to see so many top athletes battling it out over harder conditions. The tougher conditions also level the playing field for runners who possess less track speed, making the race more about strength and tactics than out-and-out leg speed.

I would love to see the request is granted, but I have my doubts it will meet with success. A recent request to have cross country running part of the winter Olympics – perhaps a more appropriate place for a cross country event – was turned down.

Cross country in the Olympics would likely not stack up to the World Titles as a lot of the high profile athletes would be running on the track or in the marathon. Still, it would pull in a different breed of endurance runner and that, I think would offer some great benefits to the sport.

Read the full article here.

Their letter can be viewed here.

I always really enjoy reading the fantastic reports on the latest sporting achievements at The Science of Sport blog. Not only do the authors Jonathan and Ross provide top quality scientific comment and analysis of sports and sporting performance, but they truly love their sport! The enthusiasm and passion in which they deliver their pieces is truly refreshing and too rarely seen!

Reporting on Haile Gebrselassie’s 2:03:59 world record in Berlin, Ross has delivered some fine race commentary and analysis including a break-down of the 5k splits.

It’s interesting to note is that Kenyan James Kwambai, who has finished 2nd in the Boston Marathon to Robert Cheruiyot and achieved a solid fifth at November’s New York Marathon when rebounding from injury that had kept him out of last years Berlin Marathon, held onto this incredible pace until the 35k mark. Unfortunately for James, the 5k between 35k and 40k proved to be the fastest in the entire race which is incredible and testament to Gebrselassie’s finishing ability given that this mark is a point where marathoners have traditionally blown out.

While Gebrselassie praised pacemakers for their great pacing strategy, Ross remains critical:

I saw the initial reports are all proclaiming the great pacing, and I disagree. Last year stood out for its magnificent pacing effort, this year was spectacular because of those final 10km. Absolutely amazing.

And yes, maybe 15 seconds (at least) in the bank if the pacing is better…!

So despite a fantastic performance and a sub-2:04, maybe there is room for improvement yet in the distance king! Ross will deliver a further analysis of the race and a comparison with last year’s Berlin Marathon soon.

Follow the link for the full report on Gebreslassie’s WOLRD RECORD run.

This Sunday, Haile Gebrselassie will line up for the Berlin Marathon with one thought on his mind: Dropping his current world record of 2:04:26 even further!

In their excellent Science of Sport blog Jonathan and Ross write about the event:

You’ll recall that it was earlier this year that Geb announced that he would not run the Olympic Marathon because he did not want to “damage” his long term-health in the polluted Chinese capital – many were skeptical then, suggesting that the big pay-day of a Berlin World record was the real reason he didn’t run. And now, 6 months later, that potential pay-day has arrived.

A big pay-day indeed if he can pull it off! So Geb apparently missed the Olympic marathon for this, but what are his chances of pulling in a world’s best time? and could he even push under 2:04?

Gebrselassie set the current world record in Berlin and will go down as the only man in history to run world-beating marathons in two consecutive years if he can pull it off again and providing no one else runs faster. Another record within reach is combined total for two marathons in one year. The best is 4:11:34 when Khalid Khannouchi ran 2:05:38 (London) and 2:05:56 (Chicago) in 2002. Gebreselassie would need 2:06:40 or better to beat this.

His record was challenged at London last April when Martin Lel and Samuel Wanjiru covered 30 kilometers 27 seconds faster than Gebrselassie’s Berlin split, but the pace slowed down, Lel eventually winning in 2:05:15.

Since Berlin, Gebrselassie has run a marathon in Dubai, but took the pace out too hard clocking 61:27 at the half way mark, with led to the pace “blowing out” to 2:04:53.

So is another world record on the cards? With Gebrselassie you could never discount him! The Scientists of Sport predict he will most likely push too hard again and run 2:04:40. Of course perfect weather is always essential for any world beating performance over this distance.

Browse to the full article that gives a full analysis and prediction of Gebrselassie’s record attempt for this year’s 2008 Berlin marathon.