The National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA) is the
National governing body
A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...
for
club level collegiate cross country,
road running and
track and field clubs at over 50 colleges and universities across the U.S.
History
On campus running clubs existed at various schools prior to the formation of the NIRCA. The
Ball State
Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis.
On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball C ...
Runners Association dated to October 2003 and hosted the MC5 meet as early as 2004 which set the trend. The official organization was formed during the National Club Cross Country Conference at
Ohio State University in May, 2006. That resulted in the first national championship meet held at
Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...
on November 4, 2006.
Major meets
There are several major meets held by NIRCA, including regional and national cross country championships, and an outdoor track and field and half marathon championship meet. The 2020 outdoor track championship meet, set to be hosted in Oxford, Ohio, was cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Divisions
The organization is broken down into 7 regional divisions, each hosting their own regional championship.
[ ]
*Heartland
*Great Lakes
*Great Plains
*Mid-Atlantic
*Northeast
*Pacific
*Southeast
References
2006 establishments in the United States
College sports governing bodies in the United States
Sports organizations established in 2006
Athletics organizations
{{Athletics-org-stub