Winter is coming and the first meeting in the British Athletics Cross Challenge series is little over a month away
As the track season draws to a close, endurance athletes will turn their attention to the autumn road racing circuit and the cross-country season.
For the latter in the UK the Cross Challenge series begins in Cardiff on October 16 before moving on to Milton Keynes in mid-November, then the traditional European Cross Country Championships trials at Liverpool’s Sefton Park in late November followed by Belfast in the new year and the Cross Challenge final and Inter-Counties Championships in mid-March. The prize pot of around £30,000 is similar to recent years.
The big pre-Christmas target for many top cross-country runners will be the European Championships at the Sport Ireland Campus on the outskirts of Dublin on December 12, while the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia, is on February 19. Both were postponed from their original dates on December 2020 and March 2021 respectively due to the pandemic.
British Athletics Cross Challenge – 2021-2022
October 16 – Cardiff (Llandaff Fields)
November 13 – Milton Keynes (Teardrop Lakes)
November 27 – Liverpool (Sefton Park) incorporating Euro Cross Trials
January 22 – Belfast (Billy Neill Centre of Excellence Dundonald)
March 12 – Loughborough (Prestwold Hall) incorporating UK Inter-Counties Championships
Pic: Mark Shearman
Other key early winter dates
October 3 – Virgin Money London Marathon
October 9 – English (ERRA) Road Relay Champs, Sutton Park
October 10 – Chicago Marathon, Manchester Marathon
October 11 – Boston Marathon
October 17 – Amsterdam Marathon, Tokyo Marathon, Great South Run
November 6 – Saucony English Cross Country Relays
November 7 – New York City Marathon
December 12 – European Cross Country Champs, Dublin
READ MORE: How to pace your cross-country race to perfection
Into 2022, the English National is at Parliament Hill on February 26, the English Schools Championships on March 19 at Hop Farm in Kent and the World Cross Country Championships February 19 in Bathurst, Australia.
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