The International Cross Country Union (ICCU) was the first major international

sports governing body A sports governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sports governing bodies come in various forms and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule i ...

for

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 ...

. Created in 1903, it launched 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 ...

that same year. Originally a grouping for contests between the four

Home Nations Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...

of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

(England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales), the body was symbolic of the increasing co-operation of the older national bodies found in those nations. The organisation expanded to include France in 1907 and by the 50th annual edition of the championships it included countries of North Africa and Western Europe, the United States, and New Zealand. The appearance of France directly led to the inclusion of athletes of its colonies and ultimately Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco competed independently at the competition. In the late 1960s Tunisia and Morocco hosted the event, reflecting the ICCU's gradual move away from its Western European base. The body served as the leading international organisation for top level cross country running until 1973, at which point it merged with the

International Amateur Athletics Federation 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 for ...

(IAAF), which until then had largely been a

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 ...

-oriented body. The Union voted to pass the organisation of the International Championships on to the IAAF in 1971. The decline of the ICCU particularly affected the nations of the United Kingdom, whose national bodies were expelled in favour of 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 ...

's body and saw the four nations' athletes compete in a merged British team. In contrast, the change benefited the countries with distance running traditions where were not part of the ICCU, such as most of Eastern Europe, East Asia, and East Africa. Athletes from the latter region would soon dominate cross country at the global level. Although there was cross country running at the Olympics during the ICCU's existence, the events were overseen by the Amateur Athletic Association of England and the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

instead.Hutchinson, Andrew (2015-01-11)
Cross-Country Running in the Olympics: New Debate Has a Long Legacy
Lyn Brooks Sports. Retrieved on 2016-04-06.

References

{{reflist Athletics organizations Defunct sports governing bodies Sports organizations established in 1903 Sports organizations disestablished in 1973