Fresh off his win in Edinburgh, Chris Derrick has issued a rallying cry for athletes and federations to support the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. 

 

On Jan. 10, Derrick led Team USA to victory in the 8k distance with Americans occupying six of the top ten spots. His urging came after British Athletics announced its decision to join other countries in not sending full teams to the 2015 championships in Guiyang, China. Citing budget reasons, British Athletics plans on sending up to six athletes for the junior races, but will only send senior racers who have the potential to finish in the top 30. 

 

In recent years, the IAAF has struggled to attract bids to host the event as it was switched from being an annual event to a two-yearly event in 2011. In 2009, the event was hosted by Amman, Jordan and the past two races have been in Bydgoszcz, Poland. In 2017, the championships will be held in Kampala, Uganda. 

 

“It’s a shame it’s going ahead from some of the major traditional places. I hope the Americans can keep coming out and having some good showings. There’s no reason U.K. or France or whoever can’t do the same. Hopefully, the U.S. can put some good teams out there and we can make it not necessarily a solely African affair and can get some interest back and get it back where it belongs in Europe and America,” said Derrick, according to Athletics Weekly. 

 

“It’s a surprise to me that no one wants to host it. It doesn’t require a lot of infrastructure or anything. There’s some really great courses in the U.S. and I wish one of the places would bid for it and bring it to America. Cross country is the biggest participation sport in high school in America and it could be awesome for kids to see the World Championships on U.S. soil.”

 

The U.S. has hosted the World Championships twice, in 1984 and 1992. 

 

Cross country has made headlines on the Olympic stage as well with two-time Olympic 1500m champion Sebastian Coe recently advocating for cross country to again be an Olympic sport. In an interview with fellow British Olympic medalist Brendan Foster, Coe suggested reintroducing the event at the Winter Olympics. 

 

“I would love to see cross country back in the Olympic program,” said Coe, according to Runners World, “Why not include it in the Winter Olympic program? Because you would then broaden the Olympic program to African nations that are not actually feeling a great proprietorial interest [in the Winter Olympics].”

 

Cross country was an official event at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Olympics until the 1924 race when a heat wave caused only 15 of the 38 competitors to finish. False reports of runners’ deaths is said to have led to the removal of cross country from the Summer Olympic program.