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| Date: | Mid-February |
| Location: | Chiba, Japan  |
| Type: | Cross country |
| Distance: | 12 km and 4 km for men 6 km for women 8 km junior men 5 km junior women |
| Est: | 1966 |
The Chiba International Cross Country is an annual cross country running competition which takes place in Chiba, Japan in mid-February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.[1]
Initiated in 1966,[2] the Chiba Cross Country is held in Showa-No-Mori Park and features a competition schedule of eight races.[3] These include a senior men's long course (12 km), a senior women's course (6 km), and a senior men's short course (4 km). Furthermore, there are three races for junior athletes which are of shorter distances, as well as two 3 km races for high school runners.[4]
Four of the races act as qualifiers for the World Cross Country Championship: the men's 12 km and the women's 6 km allow athletes to enter the senior world competition while the junior men's 8 km and junior women's 5 km enable runners to qualify for the junior section of the championships.[5] The competition is one of three in which Japanese athletes can qualify for the World Championships; the others being the annual Fukuoka International Cross Country and the biennial Asian Cross Country Championships.[6]
Over a thousand runners compete at the meeting each year, although the attendance record set in 1991 featured nearly twice as many participants.[2] A select number of international athletes are invited to compete each year, although the majority of the field typically comprise a mix of Japanese runners and Japan-based Kenyan athletes.[4] Previous winners include Olympic gold medallists Samuel Wanjiru and Derartu Tulu, eight-time European cross country champion Serhiy Lebid, and Tegla Loroupe – twice winner of the New York City Marathon.[2]
The competition is televised on the NHK BS-1 channel by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, the country's public broadcaster.[7] After the International Chiba Ekiden, the Chiba International Cross Country is the prefecture's premier athletics event.[8]
The Chiba International Cross Country has also hosted the Asian Cross Country Championship race on two occasions (1995, 1997).[2]
Key: (All other men's races 12 km and women's races 6 km)
| Edition | Year | Men's winner | Time (m:s) | Women's winner | Time (m:s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1966 | Not available | — | Not available | — | |||
| 22nd | 1987 | 35:17 | 19:45 | |||||
| 23rd | 1988 | 35:03 | 21:19 | |||||
| 24th | 1989 | 34:28 | 19:33 | |||||
| 25th | 1990 | 34:04 | 19:01 | |||||
| 26th | 1991 | 34:39 | 19:36 | |||||
| 27th | 1992 | 35:03 | 19:24 | |||||
| 28th | 1993 | 36:01 | 20:04 | |||||
| 29th | 1994 | 35:35 | 19:25 | |||||
| 30th | 1995 | 35:32 | 19:17 | |||||
| 31st | 1996 | 36:37 | 20:05 | |||||
| 32nd | 1997 | 35:50 | 19:55 | |||||
| 33rd | 1998 | 36:32 | 20:37 | |||||
| 34th | 1999 | 35:14 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 26:00 | ||||
| 35th | 2000 | 35:38 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 26:53 | ||||
| 36th | 2001 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 23:33 | 19:26 | ||||
| 37th | 2002 | 35:29 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 25:43 | ||||
| 38th | 2003 | 36:27 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 26:09 | ||||
| 39th | 2004 | 35:04 | 18:38 | |||||
| 40th | 2005 | 34:54 | 20:01 | |||||
| 41st | 2006 | 35:22 | 19:12 | |||||
| 42nd | 2007 | 35:05 | 19:15 | |||||
| 43rd | 2008 | 35:27 | 19:50 | |||||
| 44th | 2009 | 34:40 | 19:38 | |||||
| 45th | 2010 | 34:52 | 19:39 | |||||
| 46th | 2011[9] | 33:58 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 25:53 | ||||
| 47th | 2012[10] | 34:59 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 26:41 | ||||
| 48th | 2013[11] | 35:01 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 26:08 | ||||
| 49th | 2014 | align=center colspan="4" | cancelled due to snow storms | |||||
| 50th | 2015[12] | 36:14 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 28:37 | ||||
| 51st | 2016 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 25:05 | align=left bgcolor=#F6CEF5 | 29:04 |