African Cross Country Championships West Africa competing". A number of smaller regional championships have been held in Africa: the East African Cross Country Championships and the Maghreb Cross Country Championships in North Africa are both well-established competitions. West and Central African competitions have also been held in past years. African Cross Country Championships The African Cross Country Championships is a regional cross country running competition for athletes from Africa. The competition had a one off edition in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the medallists were mostly from the host nation. Following an announcement by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that the IAAF
African Cross Country Championships sport's top competitors come from Africa means that the top runners at the World Cross Country Championships, especially in the men's section, are largely the same ones which would form the field of an African Championships – at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships the top 25 finishers in the men's race, and the top 12 in the women's race, were all African-born. Commenting on the dominance of the competition, IAAF president Lamine Diack said that the competition had "become not only an African affair but an East African affair, and these days you don't even get athletes from