A Brief History of the World Cross Country Championships
by Phil Minshull

1973 - 1974 - 1975 - 1976 - 1977 - 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000

1973
Waragerm, Belgium: Despite the legacy of Nurmi, Ritola and Viren, Pekka Paivarinta becomes the first and, to date, the only Finn to win the World Cross Country title. The Turku caretaker overhauled Spain's Mariano Haro in the final sprint for the line to win by one tenth of a second. Paivarinta is also the only man ever to have won the world title wearing a hat. He always wore a red cap to keep his long hair out of his eyes!
Italy's Pigni and Scotland's Jim Brown are convincing winners of the women's and junior men's races.

1974
Monza, Italy: The ecstatic home crowd are treated to an Italian victory when Paola Pigni retains her title, winning by 40 metres. Belgium's Erik De Beck becomes one of the most surprising winners in the history of the event when he beats the luckless Haro by a second.
Perhaps De Beck's triumph would have been less unexpected had it been widely known that he was being coached by the old master himself, Gaston Roelants. Rich Kimball, from the USA, takes the junior men's race.

1975
Rabat, Morocco: Mariano Haro has to settle for second place yet again as Scotland's Ian Stewart uses his track speed to great effect on the soft and sandy course. In his three World Cross defeats, Haro was denied a title by a total of less than three seconds.
American runners Julie Brown, just 20, and Bob Thomas are the women's and junior men's champions.

1976
Chepstow, Wales: Carmen Valero becomes the first Spanish woman to achieve a major international victory. She beats the Soviet Union's Tatyana Kazankina, soon to make her name as a phenomenal middle distance runner, by 20 seconds.
Portugal's Carlos Lopes wins the senior men's race and Eric Hulst continues the run of success for the US junior men.
1977
Dusseldorf, Germany: Leon Schots continues the Belgian tradition and also leads his country to the team title with a five second margin over Lopes.
Valero retained her women's title by just holding off the Soviet Union's Lyudmila Bragina, the 1972 Olympic 1500m champion. Thom Hunt won the junior men's title to give the USA its fourth consecutive victory.

1978
Glasgow, Scotland: In appallingly muddy conditions, Norway's Grete Waitz wins the first of her five titles by putting 30 seconds between her and Romania's Natalia Marasescu. The latter gets some consolation when Romania's women achieve their country's one and only team triumph.
Ireland's John Treacy gets his first gold medal while England's Micky Morton takes the junior men's title, a race in which a certain Said Aouita finishes 37th.

1979
Limerick, Ireland: John Treacy triumphed, once more in the mud, and in front of a delighted home crowd. Inspired by the support, he wins by nine seconds from Poland's future Olympic steeplechase champion Bronislaw Malinowski.
Grete Waitz wins by an even bigger margin, 26 seconds, for her second gold medal, while Belgium's Eddie DePauw took the junior men's race.

1980
Paris, France: Craig Virgin became the first ever American winner of the men's race after a dramatic final 200 metres when he moved from third to first, beating Germany's Hans-Jurgen Orthmann by just a second.
By contrast, Grete Waitz has the biggest margin in the history of the women's race, 44 seconds to acquire her third title. Spain's Jose Garcia is the junior men's winner.

1981
Madrid, Spain: Ethiopian and Kenyan runners make their debuts at the event but inexperience shows. Mohammed Kedir miscounts and makes his effort one lap too early, leaving the way for Craig Virgin to capture his second title. Kedir has enough in reserve to secure second place and help take the team title. Kenya finish third to start an East African domination of the team race that persists to this day.
Grete Waitz wins her fourth women's title while Tunisia's Mohammed Chouri becomes the first African to take the junior men's title. Behind him, Belgium's Vincent Rousseau finishes seventh, The Italians Salvatore Antibo and Panetta are eighth and ninth and Spain's Abel Anton is 17th.

1982
Rome, Italy: Kedir makes no errors this time and takes the men's race five seconds ahead of the USA's Alberto Salazar, who had led most of the way.
Africa figure at both ends of the men's race since Libya's Selwan Philemone finishes in 167th position, nearly five minutes adrift of the man in front of him.
Romania's Maricica Puica ends Grete Waitz's reign as the queen of cross country and Zurubachew Gelaw makes it an Ethiopian double by winning the junior men's race in which Spain's Martin Fiz, who more than a decade later won the marathon at the World Championships, finishes 16th.

1983
Gateshead, England: Ethiopia's Bekele Debele becomes the youngest winner in the IAAF era. Only eight days after his 20th birthday, he prevails in the closest finish ever. Portugal's Carlos Lopes and Kenya's Some Muge, the silver and bronze medallist, are both given the same time as Debele.
Grete Waitz regained her women's crown and Ethiopia's Fesha Abebe takes the junior men's title.

1984
New York, USA: Maricica Puica regains her women's title and, after eight years, Carlos Lopes stands on top of the medal podium again.
Spain's Pierre Casacuberta overtakes Ethiopia's Doju Tessema 150 metres from the line to become the last man outside East Africa to win the junior men's race.

1985
Lisbon, Portugal: Carlos Lopes defies the odds and wins by four seconds from Kenya's Paul Kipkoech in front of an ecstatic home crowd. Ethiopia wins its fifth consecutive men's team title but, ominously, Kenya are a very close second.
England's Zola Budd wins the women's race by 23 seconds, running barefoot, while Kenya's first individual title was achieved by Kip Kimeli who won the junior men's race by an impressive 19 seconds.

1986
Neuchatel, Switzerland: Kenya's John Ngugi wins the first of his numerous victories on his first appearance in Europe. Ngugi shared the lead in the final stages with Ethiopia's Abebe Mekonnen before pulling away to win by two seconds. Kenya wins its first ever senior men's team title.
Zola Budd retains her women's title, again running barefoot despite the slippery conditions, while Ethiopia's Melesse Feyisa takes the junior men's race.

1987
Warsaw, Poland: Annette Sergent becomes the first French individual winner for 22 years. Sergent beats Scotland's Liz Lynch, later McColgan, by just two seconds. Curiously, this is the widest margin of the day.
Ngugi wins his second title from compatriot Paul Kipkoech, although both are given the same time, and a similar finish to the junior men's race sees Kenya's Wilfred Kirochi given the verdict over Ethiopia's Demeke Bekele.

1988
Auckland, New Zealand: The first ever World Championships in the Southern Hemisphere sees Ingrid Kristiansen win gold to make her the only woman ever to have held major track, road and cross country titles simultaneously.
Ngugi again defeats Kipkoech but this time the margin, at 22 seconds, was more emphatic. Wilfred Kirochi also defends his junior men's title.

1989
Stavangar, Norway: Ngugi wins a record fourth consecutive race in the Norwegian mud, winning by 28 seconds from Britain's Tim Hutchings. Sweden's Malin Ewerlof crosses the line first in the inaugural junior women's race but Kenya takes the team prize.
Ethiopia's Addis Abebe wins the junior men's race and, with Ingrid Kristiansen deciding not to defend her title on home soil, Annette Sergent wins the women's title for the second time.

1990
Aix-les-Bains, France: Morocco's Khalid Skah brings an end to Ngugi's reign, outsprinting Kenya's Moses Tanui. Lynn Jennings, from the USA, finally gets her gold medal, leaving Portugal's Albertina Dias 12 seconds behind.
Kenya's Kibiego Kororia and China's Liu Shixang win the junior races, the latter signalling the start of China's assault on women's long distance running.

1991
Antwerp, Belgium: Skah and Jennings retain their titles in impressive fashion as Andrew Sambu gets Tanzania's first ever World Championship gold medal by winning the junior men's race.
Kenya's Lydia Cheromei wins the junior women's race at the age of 13, the youngest ever winner of an IAAF gold medal.
1992
Boston, USA: On a snow covered course Ngugi enters the history books with his fifth victory. Jennings, in front of her home fans, becomes the second women after Grete Waitz to win three consecutive titles. Kenya's Ismael Kirui wins the junior men's title from Ethiopia’ Haile Gebrselassie, both runners soon to make a huge impact on the senior ranks. Britain's Paula Radcliffe becomes a rare European winner in the Junior Women's race, with China's Wang Junxia finishing second.

1993
Amorebieta, Spain: Kenya takes three of the individual races and all four team titles. William Sigei wins the senior men's with Kenyans filling the first five places. Philip Mosima and Gladys Ondeyo take the junior titles. Albertina Dias spoils the sequence by winning the women's race.
1994
Budapest, Hungary: Kenyan again nearly empties the trophy cabinet. Sigei and Mosima retain their men's titles while Hellen Chepngeno wins Kenya’ first ever senior women's title. Sally Barsosio, who had already won a World Championship 10,000m bronze medal at the age of 15, takes the junior title with compatriots Rose Cheruiyot and Elizabeth Cheptanui winning silver and bronze. By winning the team title Portugal's senior women break the monotony.

1995
Durham, Great Britain: Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu, the Olympic 1992 10,000m champion, defeats Ireland's Catherina McKiernan after an enthralling tussle. McKiernan has to settle for her fourth consecutive silver medal.
Paul Tergat continues the Kenyan domination of the senior men's race and Kenya take all four team titles. Ethiopia's Assefa Mezegebu and Finland's Annemari Sandell avoid a complete Kenyan monopoly by taking the junior titles.

1996
Cape Town, South Africa: Tergat retains his title after a well calculated team effort. Ethiopia's Gete Wami and Kutre Dulecha are surprise winners of the women's races. Kenya's David Chelule defeats the defending champion Mezegebu in the junior men's race, the first of many duels over the following

1997
Turin, Italy: The bold idea of transforming the inner city Parco del Valentino proved to be a resounding success and the 15,000 spectators witnessed some outstanding races. Paul Tergat notched up his hat trick of titles but only after a ferocious fight over the final two kilometres with Morocco's Salah Hissou. However Tergat had saved something for last and spurted past Hissou in the final metres. He acquired his eighth world cross gold medal thanks to Kenya predictably taking the team title.
The senior women's race had an equally thrilling finish with Derartu Tulu regaining the title she had won in 1995 after a battle in the closing stages with Britain's Paula Radcliffe and 1996 champion Wami. The individual gold and bronze medallist helped Ethiopia win the team contest.
Kenyan pair Elijah Korir and Rose Kosgei took the junior races in tactical triumphs which saw Kenya comfortably take both junior team titles.

1998
Marrakech, Morocco: the continuing evolution of the World Cross Country Championships took another step forward with the first ever two-day event which included, for the first time, short course 4km races.
Just before midday on the Saturday the experiment was pronounced a success with Kenya's John Kibowen proving to have the measure of his friend and training partner Daniel Komen. With Kenya having the first five men home there was no question who had won the inaugural team title
More surprising was the destination of the other gold medals on the opening day. Ethiopia's Yimenashu Taye nipped past Kenya's Jeruto Kiptum in the final few metres of the junior women's race, not only claiming the gold for herself but also ensuring team honours for her country.
Ireland's Sonia O'sullivan returned to the centre stage of the senior women's 8km race by holding off Britain's Paula Radcliffe, the 1997 silver medallist, to put behind her two years of big-time disappointments. Kenya won the team gold medal by packing their four scorers into the first ten.
Like in the junior women's race the day before, Ethiopia's junior men were also to the fore on Sunday. Million Wolde, the training partner of Haile Gebrselassie, held of the challenge of Kenya's Richard Limo and Ethiopia also ended Kenya's ten-year winning streak of junior men's team titles.
O'sullivan quickly recovered from her efforts the previous day, and was a clear winner of the women's short race. However silver medallist Zohra Ouaziz led the host nation to a well-deserved gold medal in the team race.
The curtain came down on the weekend with Kenya again showing their dominance at the sport. Paul Tergat won his fourth consecutive senior men's world title in a thrilling duel with his compatriot Paul Koech and the East African nation again easily took the team honours.

1999
Belfast, N. Ireland:After the blazing sunshine and idyllic course of Marrakech, the 27th IAAF World Cross Country Championships returned to a course that would have satisfied any traditional purist of the "mud and guts" school of cross country running.
Bitterly cold, pouring rain and strong winds marked the entire World Championships, but despite the local (European) pundits' predictions, the conditions did little to counter the traditional African domination of the event.
Undoubtedly the most notable performance came from the "King" of cross country, Kenya's Paul Tergat, who made another successful defence of his crown and entered the history books as the first person ever to win five successive World Cross Country titles. Tergat was supported in his title defence by his countryman Patrick Ivuti, who made most of the running until the final lap of the treacherous Belfast circuit. Apart from the occasional glance at his wristwatch or over his shoulder to check on the progress of Portugal's Paulo Guerra, the champion was content to follow his young team mate's footsteps until, with the finish almost in view, he launched his decisive move, galloping down the home straight and swiftly opening a gap of 30 metres by the line. Guerra finally took bronze and became the first European to win a World Cross medal since 1992.
Ethiopia’s Gete Wami – a winner in 1996 and bronze medallist in the last two editions – returned to the top of the podium today after the women’s long course race, while the short races were both Kenyan victories, going to Jackline Marange in the women's event and Benjamin Limo for the men.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia took gold in both of the junior races, as Werknesh Kidane won the women's junior race and her compatriot Hailu Mekonnen won the junior men's race.

2000
Vilamoura, Portugal: Paul Tergat’s five year reign as the undisputed King of cross country came to an end on the Portuguese coast with Belgium’s Mohammed Mourhit becoming the first European in 15 years to take a senior men’s individual title. In a thrilling race, Mourhit—who prepared for the race in the country of his birth Morocco—outkicked Tergat and the eventual silver medallist Ethiopia’s Assefa Mezgebu in the long finishing straight. Tergat, in third, had some consolation in that Kenyans filled the next four places behind him and picked up the team prize for the 15^th consecutive year. Two former world cross country champions returned to the top of the podium. Kenya’s John Kibowen bounced back after a year of injury to regain his men’s short course title, which he had won in its inaugural year of 1998, with Kenyan runners filling the first five places home to also take the team prize.
Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu triumphed in what was, for a long time, a four-way contest for the senior women’s long race title. Tulu beat her compatriot and defending champion Gete Wami by six seconds on the Saturday. The Ethiopian national anthem was played again the following day when Kutre Dulecha, the junior champion four years before, prevailed in the closest finish of the day with silver medallist Morocco’s Zohra Ouaziz and bronze medallist Margaret Ngotho both given the same time of 13:00. Kenya has always sent strong junior teams to IAAF World Cross Country Championships and it proved to be the case again with Robert Kipchumba and Vivian Cheruiyot getting their names of the champions’ roll of honour.