The Lotto Cross Cup is an annual series of international

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 ...

competitions in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The inaugural season was in 1982–1983. The series comprises Belgium's foremost cross country competitions, including the

IAAF 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 ...

permit meeting in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(

Lotto Cross Cup Brussels The Lotto Cross Cup Brussels, also known as the IRIS Lotto Cross Cup, is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in mid-December in Brussels, Belgium. It is part of the Lotto Cross Cup series of races and is classed as an IAAF ...

) and the

European Athletics 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 ...

sanctioned meeting in

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The ...

( Lotto Cross Cup van West-Vlaanderen) – Belgium's only world and European level meetings. The series previously featured six meetings (legs), but this expanded after 2003 and by 2009 the series had eight competitions in its schedule. The series typically begins in October and concludes in March. Throughout the series, athletes can earn points based on their performance, ranging from 25 points for first place and one point for fifteenth place. These points are then combined at the end of the series and the male and female athletes with the greatest totals are declared the winners.Règlement 2009/10
. Sport.be. Retrieved on 2010-02-06. In addition to the main men's and women's senior races, there are junior, masters and student competitions, as well as an under-23s competition sponsored by

EuroMillions EuroMillionsgerman: Euromillionen or pt, Euromilhões is a transnational lottery that requires seven correct numbers to win the jackpot. It was launched on 7 February 2004 by France's Française des Jeux, Spain's '' Loterías y Apuestas d ...

. There are also short-course cross country competitions, which are worth half the prize money of the longer races. The series attracts mainly Belgian athletes, although British athlete

Roger Hackney Roger Graham Hackney (born 2 September 1957) is a Welsh former long-distance runner who specialised in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He represented Great Britain in three Olympic Games and won a silver medal for Wales at the 1986 Commonwealth Gam ...

won the men's series in the 1988–89 edition. Furthermore, the meetings in Brussels, Roeselare and

Hannut Hannut (; wa, Haneu; nl, Hannuit, ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Hannut had a total population of 14,291. The total area is 86.53 km² which gives a population dens ...

often attract many high-calibre international athletes.Hannut Cross
ARRS (2009-11-28). Retrieved on 2010-02-06.

Competitions

Past series winners

References

;General
Palmares
. Lotto Cross Cup. Retrieved on 2010-02-06. ;Specific {{reflist

External links

Crosscup
(in Dutch) Cross country running competitions Athletics in Belgium Recurring sporting events established in 1982 Annual athletics series Cross country running in Belgium Annual sporting events in Belgium 1982 establishments in Belgium