Cross country races involve fairly large numbers of runners with a wide range of ability. Anyone fit enough to run the distance can compete for the club as an individual or part of a team. (Ask your coach for advice about your suitability for competing.) All athletes run in Club Vests and must be members of Scottish Athletics – see our Membership page for details.
Details of races are available from your coach. You can find also event details in the Events Calendar on the Scottish Athletics website. The cross country season runs from October each year, culminating in the Scottish National Championships in February. There’s a summary of the 2024-25 fixtures in this news story.
It is advisable to arrive at races at least one hour before race start time in order to register, walk the course and warm up. Races start EXACTLY on time. Warm clothing is essential and a change of clothes for wet weather is a good idea. Races are very rarely cancelled because of adverse weather conditions.
There’s more detail in our Cross Country Young Athlete Information Guide.
Club junior cross country series
The club organises a series of introductory cross country races for juniors each winter.
The series fixtures for winter 2024-25 are:
- Saturday 9 November – Airthrey Castle, Stirling University – 11am
- Saturday 23 November – Callander Crags car park, Callander – 11am
- Saturday 21 December – Laigh Hills, Dunblane – 11am
- Sunday 12 January – Fintry Rugby Club – 12noon
- Saturday 15 February – Queen Victoria School – part of club cross country championships – full details nearer the time
- Saturday 8 March – Kings Park, Stirling – 11am – final
Details are in this news story, and are published on our Twitter and Facebook (Central AC and Central AC Members and Parents) pages.
Club championships
The club organises a club championship each year on the weekend before the National Championships: in 2025 the club championships will be on Saturday 15 February.
Schools cross country
There are schools cross country championships for primary and secondary in the early spring each year with entries arranged by individual schools – the Stirling schools championships are organised by Active Stirling and the Scottish Schools Athletics Association (SSAA) organises the Scottish championships. There is also an invitation-only schools junior home international with Scottish teams organised by SSAA.
Student cross country
Students are able to take part in closed student championships with entries through individual colleges and universities. Scottish Student Sport organises its cross country championships in November each year and the British student championships are towards the end of the season organised by British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).
Representative fixtures
For those running near the front of races, there may be opportunities to be selected for representative fixtures. Scottish Athletics each year publishes an International Handbook which details which events Scottish Athletics and UK Athletics will be sending teams to and what the selection criteria will be for those teams. In addition, the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club selects and organises the Scottish teams for the British and Irish cross country international for those aged 35 or over.