Thrilling but rarely contested, cross country is not appreciated enough

Throughout the year, athletics fans are able to watch track and road running events, with saturated fixtures lists in both codes, but there is another athletics discipline we never really talk about.

Cross country is like a distant cousin you only see at weddings and family reunions, but when you do meet up, it’s always a jol.

It’s a strange discipline for a multitude of reasons.

Firstly, though it is considered key to the development of young athletes, it’s the only form of athletics which does not allow specialists to turn fully professional because it is not contested often enough at senior level and it is hardly ever broadcast or covered by the media.

Brutal courses

It’s also horribly inconsistent. Courses differ so much that you never really know who the favourites are, and the terrain is so varied we don’t even worry about the clock – a rarity in a sport which is all about time.

With sharp twists and turns, short but steep climbs, and even natural obstacles which require some hurdling skill, cross country races are brutal.

All that said, however, the sport doesn’t deserve to be shunned the way it does. In terms of distance running, it might be the best discipline to watch.

Coveted titles

Unlike the road and the track, where athletes specialise over specific distances, cross country brings everyone together so you’ve got 800m runners competing against marathon runners, and it makes for incredibly good racing.

It is for this reason that the world cross country titles – which are now contested over 10km at senior level – are among the most coveted in long-distance running.

It’s also so tough that it’s the only athletics discipline in which South Africa has never won a medal at a global championship.

The next edition of the World Cross Country Championships will be held in Australia in February, and in a discipline that is rarely contested at elite level, we’ll get a rare glimpse of our nation’s best in Rustenburg today as they attempt to stick up their hands for places in the SA team.

It won’t be easy – in cross country, it never is – and those who finish near the front in the senior and junior age groups at the SA Championships will deserve their places in the national squad.

And it’ll be great to watch the fastest distance runners in South Africa bashing through the bush, the dirt and the mud in the chase for the line. In athletics, in terms of entertainment, it doesn’t get much better.