2026 New Zealand Cross Country Championships

Key event info:

• Date: Saturday 1 August 2026
• Times:
  • Individual events: 8.30am to 4pm
  • Relay events: 5pm to 7pm
• Location: North Hagley Park, Christchurch

Individual Events:

• All entrants in individual events must be registered members of Athletics New Zealand clubs on the day of the event and meet other eligibility criteria as outlined in the Athletics NZ Competitions regulations (see Regulation C6)
• Entry fees increase on 21 July and entries close at 11.59pm on 24 July
• Para athletes - please email outofstadia@athletics.org.nz before entering, and we will assist with finding the appropriate event for you to enter.

Relays:

• Club administrators need to enter teams on behalf of the club
• Club administrators can edit their team members via the Race Roster portal up until 11.59pm Wed 29 July
• All members of Club teams must be registered members of Athletics New Zealand clubs on the day of the event and meet other eligibility criteria as outlined in the Athletics NZ Competitions regulations (see Regulation C6)
• Clubs can combine to enter a team, however you must ensure that you indicate that this is a non championship team when entering and teams will not be eligible for medals. You can also enter a non-championship team if there is an incorrect gender split (e.g. 1 male, 3 females) or incorrect ages within a team.
• The running order must be male, female, male, female
• Team members (and order) can be updated online by logging into your Race Roster profile up until entries close.
• Entry fees increase on 21 July and entries close at 11.59pm on 24 July
• Relay team members can be changed up until the entry closing date by logging into your Race Roster account
• You can enter multiple teams at once. Once you have entered the information for the first team, click "ADD ANOTHER ENTRY" at the bottom of the page to add another team.

Registering as an individual for a relay team:

• This year ANZ will play match maker to place you into a relay team if your club or group is unable to put together a team
• Simply enter as an "Individual Relay Entry" and we will connect you with others who are also looking to make up a team
• We will endeavour to place you in a team with similar paced athletes where possible
• If we are unable to place you in a relay team, your relay entry fee will be refunded (minus the 5% Race Roster processing fee)
• Any individuals placed into teams will run in the Social grade

Shoes

U18, U20 and Senior athletes: competition shoes need to comply with World Athletics regulations under Technical Rule 5. Please be sure to check that your shoes are on the approved list for each event. You can check on the World Athletics website here. This list is updated regularly. Please note that any shoes bought before 1 January 2016 are deemed to meet the requirements of Technical Rule 5. U18, U20 and Senior athletes will also need to complete a shoe declaration form via this link.

Dispensation

• If you want to apply for age group dispensation please complete the request form here
• On completion of the form the request will be submitted to the Athletics New Zealand Dispensation Panel. Once your request has been received you will be notified of the outcome within three working days.
• All dispensation requests must be submitted atleast 3 working days before the entries closing date