Great Edinburgh International Cross Country


The Great Edinburgh International Cross Country was an annual cross country running competition that took place every January in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is one of the competitions in the Great Run series of athletics events and is held alongside the Great Winter Run 5 kilometres mass participation race. The event was first held in Edinburgh in 2005 after the city was awarded the Great North Cross Country which relocated from Durham. The Great Edinburgh International Cross Country features three professional races: the men's 8 km race, the women's 6 km race, and the 4x1km relay. It is an IAAF permit meeting, which means that performances can be used to qualify for the annual IAAF World Cross Country Championships. It was announced on the BBC coverage of the 2018 event that that year's edition would be its last. The event was replaced by the Great Stirling Cross Country in nearby Stirling.
The grassy, occasionally muddy, course in Holyrood Park runs in a circular, clockwise pattern. The same venue was used to host the 2003 European Cross Country Championships and the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. It has had relatively difficult routes in the past, with runners twice having to climb and descend Haggis Knowe in 2009. The meeting attracts cross country athletes of the highest calibre, with past competitors including six-time World Champion Kenenisa Bekele, Gebregziabher Gebremariam, Tirunesh Dibaba and Eliud Kipchoge.
The meeting is broadcast by the BBC annually, and it has received sponsorship from VisitScotland Bupa and PureGym in 2016.
A new team competition format was introduced for the 2011 event. The four teams assembled were Great Britain, Europe, the United States and Great Britain Under-23s. Britain's Mo Farah won the race but the Europeans, featuring all the reigning European Cross medallists, won the overall team challenge.
Garrett Heath had three consecutive wins in the men's race from 2014 to 2016, two on the short course and one on the long.

Past winners

EditionYearMen's winnerTime Women's winnerTime
1st200527:4321:35
2nd200626:0819:01
3rd200728:1423:25
4th200827:4219:58
5th200926:5119:02
6th201028:4121:37
7th201125:4120:24
8th201225:4421:32
9th201324:2720:40
10th201424:1120:35
11th201525:3121:26
12th201625:2921:05
13th201724:0320:36
14th201824:3220:58

EditionYearMen's winnerTime Women's winnerTime
1st200512:22--
2nd200612:16--
3rd200712:20--
4th200812:52--
5th200912:17--
6th201013:20--
7th201113:12--
8th20129:20 --
9th20139:46
10th201411:51 --
11th201512:11 --