The Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños is a cross country running

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 competition that takes place in Venta de Baños

Venta de Baños

Venta de Baños is a village and municipality of about 5,880 located in El Cerrato, in the province of Palencia, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, central Spain. It is located south of the provincial capital, Palencia. Noteworthy monuments include its Visigothic church of San...

, Castile and León

Castile and León

Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The competition was first held in 1980 and since then it has been held every year in mid-December. Among the past winners are international athletes, such as former World Cross Country Champion

IAAF World Cross Country Championships

IAAF World Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Held annually and organised by International Association of Athletics Federations , it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the International Cross Country Championships...

s Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who holds the world record and Olympic record in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events...

 and Gelete Burka, and local athletes Marta Domínguez

Marta Domínguez

Marta Domínguez Azpeleta is a Spanish runner. She was accused of drug dealing and but later acquitted .Dominguez currently competes mainly in 3000 m steeplechase, a distance in which she was the 2009 world champion...

 and Isaac Viciosa

Isaac Viciosa

Isaac Viciosa is a former middle distance runner from Spain.Viciosa is European record holder at 3000m and the first European man under 7:30. He won European Championships 1998 for 5000m, and was 2nd for 1500m at European Championships 1994...

 (both former European Champions).

The competition began life as a regional competition, the Cross de Navidad (Christmas cross country), in 1980. The race became national in its second edition and, following the acceptance of an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 team into the competition in 1982, it obtained its current name – the Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños. The competition was televised throughout Spain for the first time in 1984, but it was not until 1995 that the competition was broadcast annually.

The course on which the competition is held is defined by the muddy and cold conditions typical of Palencia

Palencia

Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...

 in winter. The event comprises two distinct parts: the professional senior races and the amateur fun run

Fun run

A fun run is a friendly race that involves either road running or cross country running with participants taking part for their own enjoyment rather than competition. A fun run will usually be held to raise funds for a charity, with sponsors providing the revenue to cover organisational costs...

 races. The competition's races are separated into in categories based on age and sex, including: the professional senior races, veteran competitions, under-23 and junior competitions, as well as four other youth categories for children. The professional men's senior race is usually held over 10.7 kilometres while the course for the women's senior race tends to be 6.6 km long. Both senior races trace a path through the flat, grassy areas to the east of the village before running a loop around the local sports centre.

Past senior race winners

Edition	Year	Men's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )	Women's winner	Time (m Minute A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units... :s Second The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock.... )
I	1980
II	1981
III	1982
IV	1983
V	1984
VI	1985
VII	1986
VIII	1987
IX	1988
X	1989
XI	1990
XII	1991
XIII	1992
XIV	1993
XV	1994
XVI	1995
XVII	1996
XVIII	1997
XIX	1998
XX	1999
XXI	2000
XXII	2001
XXIII	2002		32:37		21:59
XXIV	2003		31:29		22:05
XXV	2004		30:26		20:38
XXVI	2005		31:34		21:05
XXVII	2006		31:30		21:21
XXVIII	2007		30:39		20:56
XXIX	2008		31:45		22:41
XXX	2009		30:59		22:47

External links

• Official website
• Competition page from Real Federación Española de Atletismo