The Italian Cross Country Championships (Italian: Campionati Italiani di corsa campestre)[1] is an annual cross country running competition that serves as Italy's national championship for the sport. It is usually held in February or March. It was first held in 1908 and featured a men's long course race only. A women's race was added to the programme in 1926.
The event includes separate races for both sexes across four categories: open (senior), under-23, under-20, and under-18 (Italian: assoluti, promesse, juniores, allievi).[2] Short races were held for men and women from 1998 to 2006 (coinciding with the period that it was an official distance at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships). Short course champions were also elected in 1970 and 1971, but in no other years.[3] Two championship races were held in 1925: one by FISA on 8 March and another by rival organisation UISA one week later.[4]
The location of the championships varies from year to year and it has previously been incorporated into high level international races, such as the Cinque Mulini and Cross della Vallagarina.[5][6]
^Taylor, Simon (2004-05-28). Run Of The Mills. Runner's World. Retrieved on 2016-09-09.
^"Cross, annullati gli Assoluti di Trieste". fidal.it. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021. L'aggravarsi della situazione generale, con la pandemia da Covid-19 che mostra quotidianamente numeri sempre più preoccupanti, ha indotto la FIDAL ad annullare lo svolgimento, previsto a Trieste il 22 novembre prossimo, dei Campionati Italiani assoluti di corsa campestre. La manifestazione, prevista nella prima stesura del calendario nazionale 2020 alla data del 3 marzo a Campi Bisenzio (Firenze, nella formula denominata "Festa del Cross", comprensiva dei titoli di categoria), era stata sospesa all'emergere del contagio, per poi essere spostata a Trieste, il 22 novembre, in occasione della già prevista "Carsolina" (ma solo per le prove assolute).