The Trofeo Alasport, also known as the Cross di Alà dei Sardi, 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...

 competition which takes place in March in Alà dei Sardi

Alà dei Sardi

Alà dei Sardi is a comune in the Province of Olbia-Tempio in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 160 km north of Cagliari and about 35 km southwest of Olbia....

 on the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 island of Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

. Unusually for a high-profile cross country event, it has often been held after the IAAF World Cross Country Championships

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...

 which occurs in late March. The Trofeo Alasport is traditionally the final event of the cross country season in Italy.

The competition was initiated in 1973 by a local athletics enthusiast, Antonello Baltolu, and has been held on an annual basis since then by the local sports association, the Società Sportiva Alasport. It is one of the foremost competitions of its type in Italy, alongside the Cinque Mulini

Cinque Mulini

The Cinque Mulini is an annual cross country running race in San Vittore Olona, Italy. First held in 1933, the course is unusual in that it revolves around a number of water mills, which lend the competition its name – meaning Five Mills in Italian. It is one of the IAAF cross country permit...

, and attracts international competitors of the highest calibre. Former winners of the event include numerous world cross country champions, such as Paul Tergat

Paul Tergat

Paul Kibii Tergat is a Kenyan professional long distance runner. He held the world record in the marathon from 2003 to 2007, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time.Now concentrating exclusively on the marathon, Tergat won many...

, 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:...

, Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who holds the world record and Olympic record in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events...

 and Khalid Skah

Khalid Skah

Khalid Skah is a Moroccan athlete, winner of 10 000 m at the 1992 Summer Olympics.Born in Midelt, Morocco, Khalid Skah established himself first as a good cross country runner by winning the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1990 and 1991.His first major tournament on track was 1991 World...

 in the men's race, while Albertina Dias

Albertina Dias

Maria Albertina da Costa Dias Pereira is a former Portuguese long-distance runner. She competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, starting in 1988...

, Gete Wami

Gete Wami

Getenesh Wami is a female Ethiopian cross country and track runner....

 and Jackline Maranga

Jackline Maranga

Jackline Maranga is a retired Kenyan middle distance runner. She won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships at the age of 15, and also won silver medals in the two following Championships, being the only athlete to do so.She is perhaps best known for winning the 1500 metres gold at the...

 have won on the women's side.

The men's elite race is held over roughly 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) while the women's competition is half that distance at around 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi). The Trofeo Alasport began as a domestic event but quickly took on an international nature, with British Olympian John Bicourt becoming the first foreign winner at the fourth edition. Belgium's Léon Schots was the first world champion to take victory in Alà dei Sardi in 1983. African names came to dominate the winner's lists from the 1990s onwards, with Susan Sirma

Susan Sirma

Susan Sirma is a retired Kenyan middle distance runner best known for winning a bronze medal over 3000 metres at the 1991 World Championships, becoming the first black African woman to win a track and field medal at World Championship or Olympic level.Sirma also won two gold medals over this...

 of Kenya ushering in the change with back-to-back victories in 1991 and 1992. In addition to these elite level races, amateur competitions are also featured on the programme of the day's events, as well as number of shorter youth-level races.

The competition has been held every year with the exceptions of 1980 and a brief suspension of the event between 2005 and 2007. Since 1986, the Trofeo Alasport has also been designated as the Trofeo Presidente della Repubblica, an honorific in recognition from the President of Italy.

Past elite 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	1973		?		?
2nd	1974		?		?
3rd	1975		?		?
4th	1976		?		?
5th	1977		?		?
6th	1978		30:55.4		11:17.7
7th	1979		31:02.0		11:05.4
—	1980	Not held
8th	1981		29:55.3		11:10.4
9th	1982		?		?
10th	1983		32:14.1		11:54.1
11th	1984		34:14.8		15:07.0
12th	1985		?		?
13th	1986		?		?
14th	1987		?		?
15th	1988		32:44.9		14:43.5
16th	1989		32:37.1		14:23.0
17th	1990		31:15		13:45
18th	1991		31:15.0		13:33.5
19th	1992		30:43.7		13:48.7
20th	1993		30:24.9		16:58.1
21st	1994		30:23.7		17:26.6
22nd	1995		30:28		17:18
23rd	1996		32:26		18:38
24th	1997		30:57.8		17:23.4
25th	1998		32:25		18:14
26th	1999		30:39		18:02
27th	2000		30:19.6		17:11.2
28th	2001		31:36.8		17:13.2
29th	2002		29:53.1		16:53.2
30th	2003		31:55.9		18:22.0
31st	2004		31:57		18:03
Race not held 2005–2007
32nd	2008		32:05		17:49
33rd	2009		31:59.4		17:33.5
34th	2010		31:38		18:03
35th	2011		32:11		18:02