Bathurst to host the biggest World Athletics Cross Country Championships event of last 15 years

Well the kids that used to crush those school events are now all grown up and they are ready to make history in Bathurst.

Come February 18 the world's best cross country runners will take on the slopes of Mount Panorama in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships.

Already the event, which has been dubbed 'WXC Bathurst23', has attracted runners from 68 different countries - that's the most in 18 years and the fifth highest count in the history of the event.

Richard Welsh, general manager of WXC Bathurst 23, painted a clear picture of the quality of the athletes who are headed to Mount Panorama.

"Most kids when they're at school, they will do a school cross country event, everywhere in the world. The good ones will then progress through the the regional areas, Central West here for example," he said.

"The good ones from that might go on to the state championships, the good ones there might go on to their national championships, the good ones from there, they come to this.

"So if you're wondering what the pinnacle is for all those kids around the world who do cross country at school, or the pinnacle of parkrunners, this is it."

While the names of the athletes who will be coming to Bathurst might not be familiar, Welsh offered a simply explanation of just how good they are.

"The athletes we've got coming here for this would break any parkrun record anywhere in the world," he said.

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With a whole range of races on the schedule, the WXC Bathurst 23 event runs from February 17 to 19, but it is the 18^th that the world championship events are to be contested.

That super Saturday will feature 521 athletes and it will be part of an historic first for not only Bathurst, but Australia.

"This is the 50 year celebration of world cross country, it's the first time it's ever been in Australia and this is the 44^th edition of the world championships," Welsh said.

"Not only that, Australia has never hosted a senior world championship. We've hosted the juniors in 1996 as a test event for the Sydney Olympics, but we've never had the best athletes in any world athletics event ever on Australian soil for a world championship.

"But we do now, next month, right here in Bathurst."

The opening ceremony on Saturday, February 28, will take place at 3pm with the mixed relay, under 20s and senior races to follow.

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