Cross Country

Key Information

Cross Country incorporates all of the main aspects that involve long-distance running. SSS Cross Country comprises cross country, road running and hill running events.

Our Cross Country programme offers a Winter League as well as numerous Championship Races and even the opportunity to be selected to represent Scottish Students Sports as part of a National Cross Country Squad. The races we offer provide athletes with the opportunity to come together from all over Scotland and challenge themselves in a supportive environment. We cater for a full range of athletes, from those interested in performance racing to those who just want to give it a go.

Have a chat with your institute’s cross country club for more details specific to the cross country program in place at your university/college, or alternatively contact the current SSS Cross Country chair (details below).

Sport Chair: Robert Sparks

Contact: scotstucrosscountry@outlook.com

Governing body: Scottish Athletics

Upcoming Cross Country Events

You might want to know…

• Cross Country is a BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) sport as apart of their Athletic programme! For more information on the whole programme, click HERE.

• The SSS winter league is comprised of 7 events, challenging our students over a variety terrains and distances.

  Full list of events for 2020 – 2021 will be updated shortly.

  Each athlete’s overall score is calculated from the 4 best performances throughout the series. The full scoring policy can be downloaded HERE.

• The Scottish Student Cross Country programme includes 5 Championship Events:
  • Cross Country Championship
  • 5km Relay Championship
  • Half Marathon Championship
  • 10km Road Race Championship
  • Hill Running Championship

• Each season, our Cross Country National Squad has the opportunity to compete as team against the other districts of Scotland at the Inter-district Championships.

  For more information on how the team is selected, click HERE.

• #RUNEQUAL – Following consultation with the student cross country clubs and Scottish Athletics, race distances at the SSS Cross Country Championships have now been equalised – brought in for the 2020 Championships. Read the full report here!

Meet your Sports Chair

Robert Sparks

Robert is the Scottish Student Cross Country chair and he plays a key role in overseeing all SSS events and is in charge of the communication between Scottish Athletics and Scottish Student Sport.

Robert first started running when he was 14 years old after winning a few 800m races at school. He went on to join his local athletics club, Fife AC, and since then have competed for them over almost every terrain possible. He is also a qualified coach and help out with his local club. One of Robert’s goal during his post is to increase participation in the sport, as he see it has having many benefits as stated below:

“Coming to university has really made me appreciate the importance of being part of a team. From the moment I joined the club I was made to feel welcome from members of all ages and personalities . University clubs are great for this and provide students with a really friendly atmosphere to train and socialize with like-minded people. This massively helped me to settle into university life as well as allowing me to branch out and make strong, long lasting friendships within the club. This showed him that cross country can go deeper than racing as no matter the result you would always arrive as a team, support each other as a team and leave as a team (not to mention celebrate as a team)! As a break from revision, a socialize with friends or a full on work out: It’s always a good time to go out for a run.”

Robert is currently a second year medical student, studying at the University of Edinburgh, running for the university’s Cross Country team, the Hare and Hounds.

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