The World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh are on target to be the best in the events 36 year history.

Preliminary entries for the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh on March 30th are now complete, and the city and Local Organising Committee remain on course for their aspirations to deliver the best ever World Cross Country Championships.

The record number of teams participating in the previous 35 editions of the event was 76 in Vilamoura, Portugal in 2000. The number of preliminary entries received for Edinburgh is 79.

Edinburgh 2008 Venues Manager Gavin Lightwood said,

"It is very pleasing to have surpassed the previous best at this point, but with a significant number of nations with less than three athletes taking part, our challenge now is to liase with the IAAF to set ourselves up for more than 76 on the start line. It is also great for the supporting Adopt-a-Nation programme to have such a variety of countries here. There has been an LOC fascination with Micronesia in the South Pacific since the bid stage and they will be represented by Nauru, whose athlete will be taken under the wing of the East Kilbride Tartan Army for the week leading up to the race."

Paul Bush, Chief Operating Officer of EventScotland, the national events agency, said,

"This is really good news for Edinburgh and the Championships. Excitement is building towards what we hope will be the best World Cross Country Championships ever held, and the news that we're on track to surpass the record number of countries entered at this stage is a great boost for all those involved in helping deliver this event."

The LOC is grateful to Cherry Alexander and Kate Channon of UK Athletics, along with Rosie Pili of the IAAF, for all their hard work in collating phase one of the entry process.


The full list of nations entered so far is:

ALGERIA   
ANGOLA   
ARMENIA    
AUSTRALIA   
AZERBAIJAN   
BAHRAIN   
BELARUS    
BELGIUM    
BOLIVIA   
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA   
BOTSWANA   
BRAZIL    
BULGARIA    
BURUNDI    
CANADA    
CHILE    
CHINA PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF   
CROATIA    
DEM. REP. OF CONGO   
DJIBOUTI    
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC   
ECUADOR    
EGYPT   
ERITREA   
ESTONIA   
ETHIOPIA   
FRANCE    
GREAT BRITAIN & NORTHERN IRELAND    
GERMANY   
GHANA    
GREECE   
GUYANA    
IRAQ   
IRELAND   
ISRAEL    
ITALY   
IVORY COAST   
JAPAN   
JORDAN    
KAZAKHSTAN    
KENYA    
KYRGHYZSTAN    
LEBANON                                     
LESOTHO   
LIBERIA   
LIBYA    
MALAWI    
MEXICO    
MOROCCO   
NAURU    
NEPAL   
NETHERLANDS   
NEW ZEALAND    
NIGERIA   
NORWAY    
PALESTINE    
PERU    
POLAND    
PORTUGAL    
QATAR   
REPUBLIC OF YEMEN    
RUSSIA    
RWANDA   
SERBIA   
SEYCHELLES   
SIERRA LEONE   
SOUTH AFRICA    
SPAIN   
SUDAN    
SWEDEN   
TAJIKISTAN    
TANZANIA   
TURKEY    
TURKMENISTAN   
UGANDA    
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES    
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA    
VENEZUELA   
ZIMBABWE