Discussion: World Cross country champs

I think it was actually the African Cross Country Champs.

I think there were some Aussies there.

yep, really small fields for a Worlds & few nations represented.

Sounds like MTBO.

Have found out through other channels that it was mostly countries just not turning up.

I saw Jakob Ingebrigtsen being interviewed after a cross-country race in Europe. He was asked whether he planned to compete in Australia. He said no, it would interfere with his training for Budapest (presumably the world champs in August). Some serious long term planning.

While the course looked a bit tougher than other XC Worlds that I've seen, it was still pretty easy compared to a lot of the courses I did as a teenager in the UK. These usually had hills, mud, hills, snow, hills, ploughed fields, hills, unploughed tussocky fields, swamps, creek crossings and one memorable route on a miserably wet and cold day through a dairy farmyard normally populated by cows waiting to be milked (we all needed a very long shower after that one), Oh, and did I mention hills?

@simmo And you couldn't undo your laces afterwards as your hands were frozen stiff.

Yes you did mention hills.

Plus your laces would be so wet and muddy they would be impossible to undo.

I had a few tastes of British cross-country in 1989, although it was down south and in a fairly dry year, so I missed out on the mud and the snow.

In terms of the mix of challenges, the Bathurst course actually reminded me a lot of the old Lotus Bay course used for Saturday junior cross-country in Canberra (this has fallen into disuse and was partly overgrown the last time I saw it). I also have fond memories of taking a field apart in a tussock grass section of a race on a farm near Burra (the one near Canberra), although the 50-metre break established there was swallowed up in the remainder of the course.

@ Shingo & Jayne - I'd forgotten about the laces!