The European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country is an annual

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

competition between the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

running club A running club, also known in some parts of the United States as a running crew , is an eclectic institution specialising in running and oriented towards the sport and recreation of running or track and field. The club may train for and compete i ...

s that are the reigning national champions for their country. It is often abbreviated to the name ECCC Cross Country. It is traditionally held on the first Sunday of February. Organised by the

European Athletics Association The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

, it was first held in 1962,European Clubs Cross Country
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-02-28. making it the second oldest regional cross country event in the world (after the

Balkan Cross Country Championships The Balkan Cross Country Championships has since 1958 been an annual regional international competition in cross country running amongst athletes from the Balkans. It forms part of the Balkan Games, the latter an event to encourage the relations amo ...

). Only the

International Cross Country Championships The International Cross Country Championships was an annual international competition in cross country running. It was created in 1903 by the International Cross Country Union (ICCU) and it marked the first time that an annual international champ ...

and

World Military Cross Country Championships The World Military Cross Country Championships is an international biennial cross country running competition organised by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). The competition is typically held in late February or early March. First hel ...

are older than these two events. It also pre-dates the

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championships ...

(the international event) by over thirty years. The competition was initially launched as a senior men only event, with a senior women's race being added to the programme twenty years later in 1982. Junior races for both men and women were initiated in 2006.Event: EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS CLUBS CROSS COUNTRY CUP
European Athletics (2008). Retrieved on 2015-02-28. Historically, the women's race was typically held at a separate location from the men's race. The two events have been held in conjunction since 2005 and each edition now features all four races (senior and junior) at the same venue. Reflecting the early roots of the tournament, until 2002 the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

sent four teams – one from each of its constituent countries. The event garners wide participation: in 2015 a total of 287 athletes competed across four races and clubs from 21 nations were present. The men's race is the most contested, with the field typically reaching 100 runners. It is one of three annual athletics club competitions held by the European Athletics Association, alongside the European Champion Clubs Cup and

European Champion Clubs Cup for Juniors The European Champion Clubs Cup is an athletics competition to the European junior athletics club that wins their national championships. Organized by European Athletics Association, first edition was held in 1979. The 2011 held in Castellón, Spa ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. The competition was staged in Belgium on all but one occasion up to 1980. Thereafter, it has been mostly held in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and Italy, reflecting the prominence of the region in hosting elite level cross country meetings.

Rules and format

The eligible clubs for each race differ as each needs to have qualified through the respective national level competition – for example, only national junior women's club champions compete in the junior women's race. The men's senior race is over , the senior women's and junior men's races are over , and the junior women's race is . Each team race is scored by combining the finishing positions of a team's top four athletes. The team with the lowest cumulative score is the winner. Teams with fewer than four finishers are declared non-finishers. Medals are awarded for both the individual and team element of the competition. Non-point-scoring members of winning teams are recognised in the team ceremonies. As a club-level competition, athletes of any nationality may compete in the competition as long as they are registered with an eligible European running club. However, athletes whose nationality is different from that of the country that their club is based in must be entered as a "Declared Foreign Athlete" in order to compete. This applies equally to non-European athletes and European athletes competing for a club of a different European nation.European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country 3 February 2013 Castellón de la Plana, Spain
2013 Castellón de la Plana. Retrieved on 2015-02-28. The host venue for the event is decided by a host bidding process. The tournament has been held as a one-off sporting event for the host venue and also as an element to be incorporated into a long-standing cross country meeting – the annual

Almond Blossom Cross Country The Almond Blossom Cross Country ( pt, Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor) is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Albufeira, in the Algarve region of Portugal, in early March. It is one of the IAA ...

race in Portugal has been host to the clubs cup competition on numerous occasions.Albufeira plays host to European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country
German Road Races (2008-02-01). Retrieved on 2015-02-28.

Editions

Men

Women

Combined

Junior winners

Statistics

;Most successful clubs *Overall:

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

, 17 titles **Men's:

, 15 titles **Women's:

Sporting Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

, 7 titles ;Most successful athletes *Men's:

Domingos Castro Domingos Silva Castro (born 22 November 1963 in Fermentões- Guimarães) is a former long-distance runner from Portugal, who was one of the leading athletes in the longer events during the late 1980s, early 1990s. He won the silver medal in th ...

, 6 titles *Women's:

Angela Tooby Angela Rosemary Tooby-Smith (née Tooby; born 24 October 1960) is a British former long-distance runner. She won a silver medal behind Ingrid Kristiansen at the 1988 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and a bronze medal in the 10,000 metres ...

, 5 titles

References

;List of venues and winners
European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country: Venues & Winners
European Athletics (2013). Retrieved on 2015-02-28.

GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-02-28.

External links

Official page
at European Athletics
2015 Official websiteVideo of 2014 event
from European Athletics

from Spanish Athletics Federation {{European Club Competitions Clubs Cup Cross country running competitions Cross Country European Athletics team events Recurring sporting events established in 1962 February sporting events 1962 establishments in Europe