compiled by Thelma Wright

The first official IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Waragerm, Belgium in 1973 and subsequently every year until 2011, with the 39^th annual held in Punta Umbria, Spain. The event is now biannual and returns to Bydgoszcz, Poland in March, 2013. Canada competed previously in the forerunner to the IAAF Championships, the ICCU (International Cross Country Union) Championships in 1969 and 1970 but did not participate again until 1977 in Dusseldorf. Since then Canada has been represented annually, though not always with full teams. A Junior Men’s race has always been on the program but the Junior Women’s race was only added in 1989.  Between 1998 and 2006 both a 4k Short course and an 8k/12k Long Course was held for Senior women/men but by 2007 reverted back to a single Long course race for Seniors. The Senior men have always run 12k while the Senior women progressed from 4km in 1973, to 6k in 1988, and 8k in 1998. Junior men run 8k and Junior women 6k.

Canada has won a few individual Medals. Alison Wiley 2^nd  1983, Lynn Kanuka 3^rd 1989, Rob Earle 2^nd Jr 1978 and Women’s Team medals in 1983 and 2004.

http://www2.iaaf.org/WXC97/news/briefhistory.html

has links to winners of each race up to 1997 as well as a good overview of the evolution of the event.

Links to Results from 1973 to 2007:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071115222759/http://mypage.bluewin.ch/tomtytom/wxc_iaaf.html

Complete results and articles from 1997 to 2011:   http://www.iaaf.org/history/index.html#

PAST  Locations and  CANADIAN  Outstanding Results

1973 Waragerm, Belgium    (No Canadian Representation)

1974 Monza, Italy                   “   

1975 Rabat, Morocco “

1976 Chepstow Wales            “

1977 Dusseldorf, Germany    

1978 Glasgow, Scotland   *Rob Earle  2^nd Jr , JR Mens team 2nd

1979 Limerick, Ireland

1980 Paris, France

1981 Madrid, Spain  * Dave Reid 12^th JR, Jr mens team 3^rd

1982 Rome, Italy

1983 Gateshead, England   * Alison Wiley 2^nd, Nancy Rooks, 12, Anne Marie Malone 16, Lynn Kanuka 23    Sr. Womens Team: 2^nd, Mark Oleson 8^th Jr men; 1984 New York, USA   * Lynn Williams 18

1985 Lisbon, Portugal  * Debbie Scott 11, Sue Lee 18  SR women

1986 Neuchatel, Switzerland  Paul McCloy 17^th SR

1987 Warsaw, Poland     * Paul McCloy 8 SR

1988  Auckland,  New Zealand  * Nancy Rooks-Tinari 19

1989 Stavanger, Norway *Lynn Williams 3^rd  sr. Lisa Harvey 6^th Junior

1990 Aix-les-Bains, France  * Tamara Solomon 6^th Junior

1991 Antwerp, Belgium

1992 Boston, USA

1993 Amorebietta, Spain

1994 Budapest, Hungary

1995 Durham, England

1996 Cape Town, South Africa

1997 Turin, Italy

1998 Marrakech, Morocco

1999 Belfast, Ireland  * Tina Connelly 17 8k, Kathy Butler 4^th 4K

2000 Villamoura, Spain

2001 Ostend, Belgium

2002 Dublin, Ireland

2003 Lausanne, Switzerland * Emilie Mondor 12 in 4k

2004 Brussels, Belgium:  Emilie Mondor 8^th in 8k , 13^th in 4k , Carmen Douma 17^{th  in}  4k ,  4k womens team : 3^rd  Kevin Sullivan 16^th, Paul Morrison 17^th  in 4k

2005 Saint-Etienne, France     Kevin Sullivan 21^st SR men Short Course

2006 Fukuoka, Japan  Kevin Sullivan 13^th , Malindi Elmore, 19 in 4k short course

2007 Mombasa, Kenya

2008 Edinburgh, Scotland  

2009 Amman, Jordan

2010 Bydgoszcz, Poland   * Simon Bairu 13^th  12k

2011 Punta Umbria, Spain