African Cross Country Championships

African Cross Country Championships
Sport Cross country running
Founded 1985/2011
Continent Africa (CAA)

The African Cross Country Championships is a regional cross country running competition for athletes from Africa.

History

The competition had a one off edition in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the medallists were mostly from the host nation.[1] Following an announcement by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that the IAAF World Cross Country Championships would change to a biennial format, the Confederation of African Athletics stated that the 2011 African Cross Country Championships would be held in Cape Town, South Africa, marking a relaunch of the competition.[2]

While all other continental regions defined by the IAAF have had their own regional cross country championships on an annual or biennial basis, Africa did not have a regular competition in this mould for a long period. This may have been due to a number of factors including: the high status of annual cross country meetings such as the Kenya National Cross Country Championships and the Jan Meda International Cross Country (which doubles as the Ethiopian championships),[3] the size of the region, the prominence of smaller regional championships, and the comparative lack of resources available to the Confederation of African Athletics.

The fact that the majority of the sport's top competitors come from Africa means that the top runners at the World Cross Country Championships, especially in the men's section, are largely the same ones which would form the field of an African Championships – at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships the top 25 finishers in the men's race, and the top 12 in the women's race, were all African-born.[4][5] Commenting on the dominance of the competition, IAAF president Lamine Diack said that the competition had "become not only an African affair but an East African affair, and these days you don't even get athletes from West Africa competing".[6]

A number of smaller regional championships have been held in Africa: the East African Cross Country Championships and the Maghreb Cross Country Championships in North Africa are both well-established competitions.[7][8] West and Central African competitions have also been held in past years.[9][10]

Editions

Edition Year Venue City Country No. of
athletes
— 1985 Nairobi  Kenya
1st 2011 Koerboom Park Cape Town  South Africa
2nd[11] 2012 Koerboom Park Cape Town  South Africa 160
3rd[12] 2014 Kololo Kampala  Uganda

Champions

Year Men's senior race Women's senior race Men's team Women's team
1985  Paul Kipkoech (KEN)  Hellen Kimaiyo (KEN)  Kenya  Kenya
2011  John Mwangangi (KEN)  Mercy Cherono (KEN)  Kenya  Kenya
2012  Clement Langat (KEN)  Joyce Chepkirui (KEN)  Kenya  Kenya

1985 medallists

Individual

Race Gold Silver Bronze
Men's senior  Paul Kipkoech (KEN)  Andrew Masai (KEN)  Joshua Kipkemboi (KEN)
Women's senior  Hellen Kimaiyo (KEN)  Marcelina Cheboi (KEN)  Florence Mwangechi (KEN)
Men's junior  Peter Rono (KEN)  Jeremiah Chelego (UGA)  Samuel Okemwa (KEN)

Team

Race Gold Silver Bronze
Men's senior  Kenya (KEN) (21)  Uganda (UGA) (83)  Tanzania (TAN) (141)
Women's senior  Kenya (KEN) (10)  Tanzania (TAN) (40)  Uganda (UGA) (44)
Men's junior  Kenya (KEN) (10)  Uganda (UGA) (46)  Tanzania (TAN) (48)

References

  1. ↑ African Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  2. ↑ CAA Council. Confederation of African Athletics (Autumn 2009). Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  3. ↑ Ethiopia Cross Country Championships. Time to Run (2008-02-06). Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  4. ↑ 2009 Senior Race - M Final. IAAF (2009-03-28). Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  5. ↑ 2009 Senior Race - W Final. IAAF (2009-03-28). Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  6. ↑ Africa fears changes in marathon format is bad news. The Indian Express (2009-09-16). Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  7. ↑ East African Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  8. ↑ North African Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  9. ↑ West African Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  10. ↑ Central African Cross Country Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-02-23.
  11. ↑ Williamson, Norrie (2012-03-19). Langat and Chepkirui take African XC titles in Cape Town. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-25.
  12. ↑ Kyeyune, Elly (2013-06-11). Uganda To Host World Cross Country. ChimpReports. Retrieved on 2013-06-19.

External links