50 Years of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships
'50 Years of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships', edited by renowned statistician Mirko Jalava, has been published by World Athletics Heritage as a free to access ebook. There is also a print edition available for purchase.
The 690-page book (A5, paperback) chronicles in editorial and statistics the history of cross country’s greatest competition, ever since it came under the stewardship of World Athletics in 1973.
The book is the direct heir to 'The Toughest Race in the World', edited by Mark Butler, which was published in 2003 in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships. Butler’s assistance was invaluable in bringing the story up to date in the new publication, which includes all race results from 1973 to 2019.
Simon Turnbull, former athletics correspondent at The Independent on Sunday and The Independent newspapers, has taken the pen from Butler as author of the championship race summaries from 2003 to 2019.
“I really love cross country running. It is endurance. It is focus. It is strategy. It is man and woman against the elements and the environment,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
“I would like to thank Mirko, Mark and Simon, a triumvirate of much respected athletics specialists, for producing this book which, containing the full results of every world championship race since 1973, is the definitive reference point for what remains one of the world’s greatest sporting spectacles.”
Given that 20 years have passed since the previous book, and because so much new information has since come to light, the results database has been recreated from scratch. Some numbers have changed drastically as athletes not finishing races have been added, and some, who did not start, have been removed.
All total numbers are drawn from the data we today believe is correct, and no longer correspond with those numbers previously given for single championships or those that appeared in the 2003 edition.
50 Years of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships (2023)
Publisher: World Athletics Heritage
Editor: Mirko Jalava
A5, 690 pages
A printed version is also available to order:
Paperback
Price: US$30 (including postage and packing)
Please send orders to:
World Athletics
6-8 Quai Antoine 1er
BP 359
MC 98007 Monaco Cedex
Tel: (377) 93 10 88 88
Fax: (377) 93 15 95 15
E-mail: info@worldathletics.org