The World Athletics Cross Country Permit Meetings were an annual series of independently-run
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 cou ...
competitions which were recognised by the
International Association of Athletics Federations
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...
(IAAF) with permit status. First held in 1999, the meetings could be used to gain qualification to the
IAAF World Cross Country Championships
World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...
. The number of legs in the series varied from around six to twelve meetings per year, with dates spanning the European winter months, from November to February, prior to the World Championships scheduled in March. The series replaced the
IAAF World Cross Challenge, which was first held in 1990. The last series was held in 2020–2021, after which point it was replaced by the three-tier
World Athletics Cross Country Tour.
Meetings
References
{{International athletics
Recurring sporting events established in 1999
Cross country running competitions
Annual athletics series
Cross Country Permit Meetings