All Open athletes must be U.S. citizens 16 years of age or older on the day of the competition and must be current members of USATF in good standing. The Masters Championship races are open to all current members of USATF in good standing 40 years of age or older on the day of competition, including Permanent Residents. However, only US citizens shall be awarded individual championship medals or score for a team. USATF memberships may be purchased online or through your local Association Office. Athletes will not be permitted to compete unless they have a current USATF membership and have completed the online entry process.
Register online:
Once the online registration system has closed on Friday, December 2, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, no further race registration shall be allowed except in emergency situations as determined by the Games Committee. Please contact crosscountry@usatf.org for questions.
In order to enter a team, the club must first be a current registered USATF member club. The preferred method for team registration is through the ‘Team Entry Module’ no later than the close of the online registration system on Friday, December 2, 2022, by 11:59 p.m. PDT. No club affiliation additions will be processed or considered after this deadline. It is possible for each team member to enter independently using the left side of online registration webpage. However, each member of a club team who registers independently must select their club affiliation and team division correctly during their online registration process. Club affiliation is the athlete’s responsibility. The Team Entry Module on the right side of the online registration webpage labeled “Club Login” can only be accessed by team captains to enter entire teams and/or manage their team rosters once individuals have already entered. Access to the USATF Club Management Area is available to the person listed as the main club contact on your original yearly member club application form, as well as club coaches and club administrators as designated by your main club contact. To gain access to your club’s team entries, email your club's main contact with your name, individual membership number, and role within the club. Note: Access to the Club Management Area is limited to those people who are current individual members of USATF. This access will close at the online entry deadline on Friday, December 2, 2022, by 11:59 p.m. PDT. If athletes are not entered through the Team Entry module, the team must complete the Team Declaration form at packet pick-up in order to indicate its scoring runners and form a scoring team. Individuals not competing as part of a team should enter using the Individual Entry module (located on the registration form as "Individual Registration"). Club affiliation is the athlete’s responsibility. Contact crosscountry@usatf.org for questions regarding registration or team eligibility.
Club teams must meet the requirements of USATF Competition Rules when they enter the event and when they declare their teams. As teams enter or should any discrepancies be reported prior to race day, the Games Committee will examine all entries to ensure compliance and will make every effort to contact teams not in compliance. If a team competes with an ineligible runner, a protest can be filed within one hour of the race results being posted. The online “Status of Entries” page on the USATF event website will be updated in real time until the close of the online registration system on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. The list of team entries will be posted at packet pick-up. Declared athletes are those athletes who will score for your club; athletes MUST meet all eligibility requirements listed on the entry information for this championship, in particular the residency requirements of USATF Rule 4.2 (Open) and Rule 341.8 (Masters). Once the online registration system has closed on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT all access to the online Team Entry Module will end. However, complete scoring teams shall have a final opportunity to declare their scoring members at packet pick-up at on Friday, December 9, 2022. Final Team Declaration forms will be provided and must be submitted in person by a club team representative. No team roster additions or affiliation updates shall be permitted at this time. No email, text or phone final team declarations will be accepted after the online registration deadline of Friday, December 2, 2022, by 11:59 p.m. PDT.
All athletes entering as part of a club team must be affiliated with that club as part of their USATF membership profile prior to the close of the online event registration system on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. No club affiliation changes will be processed or considered after this deadline. Athletes must be bona fide members of a current USATF member club in order to represent a club and score team points. An athlete's current affiliation can be viewed in their membership profile and as part of the online entry process. Athletes wishing to change club affiliations can make a request through the Membership Chair of their local USATF Association or the USATF National Office at 317-261-0500 or membership@usatf.org. Note that any request to change club affiliation must be made directly by the athlete – See Regulation 4 in the USATF Governance Handbook Requests from coaches, managers, teammates, etc. will not be accepted.
Pursuant to USATF Competition Rule 4.2, in Open Cross Country competition, an athlete who is a non-resident member of an Association is eligible to compete for a team in that Association only if the athlete: a) resides in an adjoining Association within the government-defined Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of a city which is primarily in the neighboring Association as approved by the appropriate sport committee or council; or b) has historical membership based upon Association residency (at least 3 continuous USATF membership years) and is eligible to compete for that club. Pursuant to Rule 341.8, Master Teams shall represent current member clubs of USATF, verified through the national office. USATF Association, Regional, or National “all-star” teams are not eligible to compete in Masters Long Distance Running Team competition including cross country. Team members shall be affiliated with the club they are representing on their USATF membership record prior to entering the competition. One athlete per team (i.e., Club M50+ team) who is a non-resident member of an Association is eligible to compete for a team in that Association.
There are no performance standards to participate. The USATF Cross Country Council reserves the right to establish criteria for entry in separate races if entry numbers and course conditions dictate. No eligible runner will be turned away from competition.
In addition to a club affiliation, athletes may represent one (1) corporate sponsor. This corporate sponsor must be a registered USATF Corporate Member and be part of the athlete's membership profile. Corporate Membership applications can be obtained by sending an email to membership@usatf.org. All sponsor affiliations must be completed prior to the close of the online event registration system on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. No sponsor additions or changes will be accepted after this date.
The number of entries for a team shall be unlimited. However, the number of declared scoring members of a team is set by rule. For all Open teams – Men and Women; five individuals shall score with a maximum of eight individuals declared per team. For Master Men 40+ and Men 50+ teams; five individuals shall score with a maximum of nine individuals declared per team. For Master Men 60+, 70+ and 80+ teams and all Master Women’s teams; three individuals shall score with a maximum of five individuals declared per team.
USATF member clubs may enter multiple teams and must designate the teams and their individual members as "A", "B", "C", etc., prior to the online event registration deadline of Friday, December 2, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. This can be done through the Team Entry Module (see above). In the absence of a formal declaration for multiple teams, only one team from that club shall be scored and additional runners shall be considered "non-scoring" athletes. All complete “B” team runners will be issued a 3”x5” stick-on letter “B” at packet pick-up. These should be placed on the back of the outermost top layer of clothing that you will be wearing in the race. If a club team fails to declare their scoring members prior to the online event registration deadline of Friday, December 2, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. PDT or in person on Friday, December 9, 2022 at packet pick-up using the Final Team Declaration form and has more than the maximum number of allowable declared runners entered, then, by default, their scoring team will be comprised of up to the maximum number of scoring members allowed for an “A” team only, chosen sequentially from their alphabetical “Status of Entries” list on the event webpage. (i.e., if you enter 10 runners in the Open race and do not declare your scorers by either deadline, then we will take the first 8 runners listed alphabetically on the Status of Entries webpage as your “A” team.) Members of depleted teams that are unable to fill the necessary scoring number may race as individual entries. If a team competes with an ineligible runner, a protest can be filed within one hour after race results have been posted. See USATF Competition Rule 146.
Cross Country is basically a team sport, but participation is not limited to teams. Individual entries will be accepted. Club athletes without complete scoring teams and all "Unattached/Non-Scoring" athletes (those athletes not affiliated with a registered USATF member club on their membership profile) may participate but will not be factored into team scores. Unattached athletes are encouraged to join a local club or create a new club. Contact your local Association for information on starting your own club.
USATF National Championships require that event registrants shall be date-of-birth verified. Members are required to upload/submit their birthdate verification documents while completing their membership profile on the USATF Connect system. No age verification will be done onsite. Runners who do not verify their age are subject to protest and possible disqualification after the race. Birthdate verification documents must be uploaded through USATF Connect. If you are experiencing trouble uploading these documents, please contact the USATF National Office at 317-261-0500 for assistance. Be advised that birthdate verification documents will not be accepted or uploaded by the National Office. After completing your entry, if the status of entries page indicates “info needed,” please upload a copy of your birth certificate or passport to your USATF Connect account. Detailed instructions on how to submit DOB documents to your USATF Connect account can be found here. If a document is illegible, it will be invalidated and will not be processed. Invalidated documents will not result in an extension of the submission deadline. No extension will be granted for invalidated documents that require re-submission. The processing period will remain in effect. Birthdate verification documents will remain a permanent part of the member profile and will not require re-submission.
Non-citizens are not allowed to compete in the Open races. Non-citizen USATF-member Master runners may compete in the Master races but can neither score for a team nor win individual championship awards. All runners must be current members of USATF.
Questions should be directed to: crosscountry@usatf.org.