Cross Country

Cross country running is a running event in which runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain. The courses used at these events may include grass, mud, woodlands, hills, flat ground and water. It is a popular participatory sport, and usually takes place in temperate regions during the autumn and winter when soft conditions underfoot prevail.

It is one of the sports which, along with track and field, road running, and racewalking, makes up the umbrella sport of athletics. The foremost elite competition is the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Cross country also features as part of the modern pentathlon at the Summer Olympic Games. Cross country featured on the Olympic athletics programme between 1912 and 1924 but was dropped for following editions.

From Wikipedia