User:BlockA.BU/Cross country running

Notable athletes

 * Kenenisa Bekele won both short and long World Cross Country course titles in the same year five times (2002–2006), after a junior men victory and senior long course silver in 2001. The IAAF calls him the "greatest ever male cross country runner to have graced the sport."
 * Edward Cheserek is the three-time individual winner of the NCAA Division I championship in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Cheserek is the only athlete to win three straight individual NCAA championships.

Olympic Games
Main article: Cross country running at the Olympics Individual cross country race at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The left trio is Edvin Wide, Ville Ritola and Paavo Nurmi. Due to the hot weather (over 40 °C (104 °F)) only 15 out of 38 competitors (elite long-distance runners) finished the race.

Cross country was contested as a team and individual event at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics. Sweden took gold in 1912, and Finland, led by Paavo Nurmi, captured the gold in 1920 and 1924. During the 1924 race in the Paris heat wave, only 15 of the 38 competitors reached the finish. Eight of those were taken away on stretchers. One athlete began to run in tight circles after reaching the stadium and later knocked himself unconscious, while another fainted 50 meters from the finish. José Andía and Edvin Wide were reported dead, and medics spent hours trying to find all the competitors who had blacked out along the course. Although the reports of deaths were unfounded, spectators were shocked by the attrition rate and Olympic officials decided to ban cross country running from future Games. Since 1928, cross country has been contested only as the fifth discipline of the modern pentathlon, and until 2016 it was the only discipline where the Olympic competition was only part of the modern pentathlon.

Notable Races

 * World Cross Country Championships is an international cross country championship race hosted by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF) in which athletes represent their home countries. Since 2011, the race has been held every two years. World Athletics describes the race as "the most grueling, ‘back to basics’ event of the World Athletics Series." 
 * NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships is a race held by the NCAA every fall as the culminating event of the inter-collegiate cross country season. Runners represent their school, and can qualify either as a team or as an individual. The race is The NCAA describes the event as "one of the most intriguing of all DI championships." 
 * USATF National Club Cross Country Championships is an annual cross country competition hosted by USA Track and Field usually held in mid-February. There are five races within this championship: a masters women 6 km, masters men 60+ 8 km, masters men (40-59) 10 km, open women 6 km, and open men 10 km. . The open races serve as selection competitions for the world cross country championships. 
 * Great Edinburgh International Cross Country is a cross country competition held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland. The competition consists of four races: the junior men’s 6km, the junior women’s 4km, senior men’s 8km and senior women’s 6km. While the event frequently attracts world-class competition, it has not been held since 2019. 

Notable Courses

 * Franklin Park is a park in Boston, Massachusetts. Franklin Park, described as a "famed cross country course," hosted the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1992. The course hosts high school races, college, and professional races, including the New England Cross Country Championships. It is also home the annual Battle in Beantown collegiate invitational. 
 * Van Cortlandt Park is located in the Bronx, NY and has been described as "the most storied cross country course in the United States." The park has hosted NCAA cross championships, world cross country championships, and is used for training by many elite runners in the area. It is also home to the annual Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational. 
 * Lavern Gibson dubbed "Cross Country Town USA," this course is located in Terry Haute, Indiana and is the home course of Indiana State University. It has hosted the NCAA Division I Cross Country championships 12 times. The course is notable because it was designed specifically for cross country races. 
 * Thomas Zimmer Championship Course is located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. The course opened in the fall of 2009, and was host to the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championship. The course is also home to the annual Nuttycomb Wisconsin Invitational, one of the largest collegiate cross country competitions. 

Eating Disorders
Physical leanness is desirable to achieve competitive success in cross country running. '''This emphasis on body weight has led to a culture of eating disorders within the sport. Scholars have cited a high incidence of eating disorders among cross country (long-distance) runners. They have noted that while eating disorders can occur in all runners, they are far more prevalent among female athletes. Other factors, such as social pressures and the overall stress of the college environment also contribute to the prevalence of eating disorders among female college cross country runners. Following professional runner Mary Cain's 2019 account of how the competitive pressures of long distance running contributed to her eating disorder, many other prominent female cross country athletes have tried to bring attention to the issue of eating disorders in the sport. '''