Chiba International Cross Country

The Chiba International Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in Chiba, Japan in mid-February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.[1]

Chiba International Cross Country
The races are held in the Showa Forest near Chiba
Date	Mid-February
Location	Chiba, Japan
Event type	Cross country
Distance	12 km and 4 km for men 6 km for women 8 km junior men 5 km junior women
Established	1966

Initiated in 1966,[2] the Chiba Cross Country is held in Showa-No-Mori Park and features a competition schedule of eight races.[3] These include a senior men's long course (12 km), a senior women's course (6 km), and a senior men's short course (4 km). Furthermore, there are three races for junior athletes which are of shorter distances, as well as two 3 km races for high school runners.[4]

Four of the races act as qualifiers for the World Cross Country Championship: the men's 12 km and the women's 6 km allow athletes to enter the senior world competition while the junior men's 8 km and junior women's 5 km enable runners to qualify for the junior section of the championships.[5] The competition is one of three in which Japanese athletes can qualify for the World Championships; the others being the annual Fukuoka International Cross Country and the biennial Asian Cross Country Championships.[6]

Over a thousand runners compete at the meeting each year, although the attendance record set in 1991 featured nearly twice as many participants.[2] A select number of international athletes are invited to compete each year, although the majority of the field typically comprise a mix of Japanese runners and Japan-based Kenyan athletes.[4] Previous winners include Olympic gold medallists Samuel Wanjiru and Derartu Tulu, eight-time European cross country champion Serhiy Lebid, and Tegla Loroupe – twice winner of the New York City Marathon.[2]

The competition is televised on the NHK BS-1 channel by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, the country's public broadcaster.[7] After the International Chiba Ekiden, the Chiba International Cross Country is the prefecture's premier athletics event.[8]

The Chiba International Cross Country has also hosted the Asian Cross Country Championship race on two occasions (1995, 1997).[2]