The Cross de l'Acier is an annual 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 is held in late November in Leffrinckoucke

Leffrinckoucke

-Twin towns:Leffrinckoucke is twinned with: Węgorzewo in Poland-References:* Notes...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. First held in 1990, it is one of the foremost competitions of its type in France. Ten races are held at the event for athletes of varying abilities. Around 2200 runners took part in the day's event in 2010.

The course of the competition is held around the Fort des Dunes – part of a set of military fortifications used in the First World War known as the Séré de Rivières system

Séré de Rivières system

The Séré de Rivières system was an ensemble of fortifications built from 1874 and first used at the beginning of the First World War along the frontiers and coasts of France...

. The men's international elite race covers 9.95 km while the women's race takes place over 6.55 km. These races are used by French athletes to gain selection for the national team at the European Cross Country Championships

European Cross Country Championships

The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year...

, which is held a month after the event. The elite competition currently holds permit status from European Athletics, alongside the Cross Internacional de Soria

Cross Internacional de Soria

The Cross Internacional de Soria, also known as the Campo a Través Internacional de Soria, is an annual cross country running competition that takes place in Soria, Spain. First held in 1994, it usually takes place in late November and gained IAAF cross country permit meeting status in 2007...

 among others.

It attracts elite runners of the highest calibre and former winners include multiple world record breaker Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Gebrselassie is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon...

, World Cross Country champions

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...

 Zola Budd

Zola Budd

Zola Pieterse, better known by her maiden name of Zola Budd , is a former Olympic track and field competitor who, in less than three years, twice broke the world record in the women's 5000 metres and twice was the women's winner at the World Cross Country Championships...

 and Joseph Ebuya

Joseph Ebuya

Joseph Ebuya is a Kenyan runner who specializes in the 5000 metres and was the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships champion.-Early life and career:...

, and track world champions Fernanda Ribeiro

Fernanda Ribeiro

Maria Fernanda Moreira Ribeiro, GCIH , is a long-distance runner, born in Penafiel, Portugal. She achieved the top of her career in the 1996 Summer Olympics where she won the women's 10,000 m gold medal, giving Portugal their 3rd Olympic gold , and establishing a new Olympic record - 31:01.63.-...

 and Linet Masai

Linet Masai

Linet Chepkwemoi Masai is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events...

. Although many of the competition's most successful runners hail from East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

, the race also features prominent European runners: Paulo Guerra

Paulo Guerra

Paulo Alexandre Martins Guerra is a Portuguese runner who specialized in the 10,000 metres and cross-country running...

 and Mohammed Farah

Mohammed Farah

Mohammed "Mo" Farah is a Somalia-born British international track and field athlete. On the track, he generally competes over 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, but also runs the 3000 metres and occasionally the 1500 metres...

 both won the European Championships after winning in Leffrinckoucke a month previously.

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.... )
1st	1990
2nd	1991
3rd	1992
4th	1993
5th	1994
6th	1995
7th	1996
8th	1997
9th	1998
10th	1999
11th	2000
12th	2001
13th	2002
14th	2003
15th	2004
16th	2005
17th	2006
18th	2007
19th	2008		28:15		18:20
20th	2009
21st	2010		28:08		21:40
22nd	2011		28:10		21:09