The Cross Internacional de San Sebastián, also known as the Cross Internacional de Donostia, is an annual cross country running

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 event which is staged in late January in San Sebastián

San Sebastián

Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.

The competition was first held in 1956 as a men's only race and attracted top level runners from the outset, with Olympic gold medallists Emil Zátopek

Emil Zátopek

Emil Zátopek was a Czech long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life...

, Alain Mimoun

Alain Mimoun

Alain Mimoun is a retired French runner and Olympic marathon champion.-Early life:Born in El Telagh, then in French Algeria, Mimoun lost several years of competition to World War II...

 and Mamo Wolde

Mamo Wolde

Degaga Wolde was an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete and was winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics....

 being among the winners in the first decade of the event. A women's race was introduced in 1971 and two-time World Cross

IAAF World Cross Country Championships

IAAF World Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Held annually and organised by International Association of Athletics Federations , it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the International Cross Country Championships...

 champion Carmen Valero

Carmen Valero

Carmen Valero Medes is a former middle-distance runner from Spain, who represented her native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. There she was eliminated in the heats of the 800 and the 1500 metres...

 took a record four back-to-back wins soon after. From the 1970s to 1980s, a mix of Iberian

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

 and British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 athletes topped the podium, but since the 1990s the race has been dominated by runners of East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

n origin.

The grassy course is relatively flat and the distances for the elite races are 10 km for men and 5.3 km for women. In addition to the professional races, there are also popular fun run

Fun run

A fun run is a friendly race that involves either road running or cross country running with participants taking part for their own enjoyment rather than competition. A fun run will usually be held to raise funds for a charity, with sponsors providing the revenue to cover organisational costs...

 races on the day's events programme; there are various age category races for children and youths, as well as a veteran's races for older runners.

The Cross de San Sebastián has featured many of the world's most prominent names in long-distance running, including marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 world record holder Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon...

, Olympic champions Derartu Tulu

Derartu Tulu

Derartu Tulu is an Ethiopian long distance track, road and marathon athlete.Derartu , a member of the Oromo ethnic group, grew up tending cattle in the village of Bekoji in the highlands of Arsi Province...

, John Ngugi

John Ngugi

John Ngugi Kamau , is a former Kenyan athlete, often called one of the greatest cross country runners of all time and winner of the 5000 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics.-Career:...

 and Rosa Mota

Rosa Mota

Rosa Maria Correia dos Santos Mota, GCIH, GCM is a Portuguese former marathon runner, one of her country's foremost athletes. She is also considered to have been one of the best marathon runners of the 20th century....

, as well as world cross country champions such as Zersenay Tadese, Gebre Gebremariam and Benita Johnson

Benita Johnson

Benita Willis is an Australian distance runner, who is a three-time national champion in the women's 5,000 metres....

. Among the Europeans to have topped the podium are former world record holders Carlos Lopes

Carlos Lopes

Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes, GCIH, is a former Portuguese long-distance athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1984 Summer Olympics, in Los Angeles. He brought home Portugal's first ever Olympic gold medal along with a new Olympic record - 2:09.21.Born in Vildemoinhos, near Viseu, Portugal,...

 and David Bedford

David Bedford (athlete)

David Colin Bedford is an English former long distance runner, a colourful character whose career spanned the early 1970s. He is now race director of the London Marathon, and a representative for UK Athletics on the IAAF Road Running Committee.Bedford held the world record at 10,000m, improving it...

, as well as past European Cross champions Marta Domínguez

Marta Domínguez

Marta Domínguez Azpeleta is a Spanish runner. She was accused of drug dealing and but later acquitted .Dominguez currently competes mainly in 3000 m steeplechase, a distance in which she was the 2009 world champion...

, Paulo Guerra

Paulo Guerra

Paulo Alexandre Martins Guerra is a Portuguese runner who specialized in the 10,000 metres and cross-country running...

 and Serhiy Lebid. The competition has also incorporated the regional Gipuzkoan cross country championships in previous editions.

Past senior race winners

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
1st	1956		39:37.0	Not held
2nd	1957		39:19.8
3rd	1958		39:54.3
4th	1959		38:38.8
5th	1960		40:08.8
6th	1961		41:36.8
7th	1962		38:51.8
8th	1963		30:33.4
9th	1964		29:48.1
10th	1965		30:44.1
11th	1966		30:59.3
12th	1967		31:04.2
13th	1968		33:07.6
14th	1969		30:49.4
15th	1970		30:48.0
16th	1971		32:18.1		?
17th	1972		32:04.0		?
18th	1973		33:15.8		?
19th	1974		30:43		10:06
20th	1975		31:30.5		?
21st	1976		33:57.6		10:35
22nd	1977		30:52		12.28
23rd	1978		32:42		13:35
24th	1979		31:58		13:25
25th	1980		31:06		12:42
26th	1981		31:07		13:02
27th	1982		31:29		12:53
28th	1983		29:59		12:18
29th	1984		30:21		12:24
30th	1985		31:17.2		12:36.0
31st	1986		?		?
32nd	1987		30:35		11:32
33rd	1988		31:42		?
34th	1989		29:29.2		11:24.0
35th	1990		?		?
36th	1991		30:09		18:58
37th	1992		29:38		18:35
38th	1993		29:12		18:42
39th	1994		30:23		19:06
40th	1995		32:13		19:50
41st	1996		29:39		18:34
42nd	1997		31:19		19:25
43rd	1998		29:40		18:59
44th	1999		31:20		20:04
45th	2000		29:47		19:14
46th	2001		30:42		19:23
47th	2002		28:44		18:20
48th	2003		32:48		19:44
49th	2004		30:48		19:45
50th	2005		30:50		19:01
51st	2006		29:28		20:22
52nd	2007		29:38		17:51
53rd	2008		29:50		17:54
54th	2009		31:47		18:45
55th	2010		31:29		19:45
56th	2011		31:06		18:54

Victories by nationality

Country	Men	Women	Total
	14	4	18
	11	7	18
	7	11	18
	9	5	14
	4	5	9
	2	0	2
	1	1	2
	1	1	2
	0	2	2
	0	2	2
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1
	0	1	1

External links

• Official Gipuzkoa Athletics Federation website