Amman, Jordan – An IAAF delegation headed by Vice-President Dahlan Al Hamad, Organisational Delegate, and Cross Country Committee Chairman Otto Klappert, Technical Delegate, were in Amman from 23 to 24 September to carry out a site visit ahead of next year’s 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships, which will be held on 28 March 2009 in the Jordanian capital.

During the visit the IAAF delegation met with HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, the Prince Regent of Jordan and President of the National Olympic Committee of Jordan, who has given his country’s full support and commitment to staging the championships.

Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a city of 2,125,400 inhabitants (2005), and is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Jordan which has a population of over 6 million. It is also the largest city in Jordan, and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World.

The Local Organising Committee is working hard on the preparations for the Championships which will consist of four races – senior men and women, and junior men and women - that will take place at Bisharat Golf Course. The venue is hilly and is located about 20kms from the proposed accommodation for the team delegations.

For the senior men’s race, teams of not more than 12 competitors can be entered, 9 will be allowed to compete of whom 6 will score, whereas for the other three races - senior women, Junior men, Junior women’s races - teams of not more than 8 competitors can be entered, 6 will be allowed to compete of whom 4 will score.

Each race shall be scored separately. The team results shall be decided by the aggregate of places recorded by the scoring competitors of each team. The team with the lowest aggregate of points will be judged the winner.

In assessing the aggregate, no adjustment to the scoring placings of the finishing teams shall be made in respect of any non-scoring team runners or of individual entries. Any tie will be decided in favour of the team whose last scoring member finishes nearer the first place.

Preliminary entry deadline is two months prior to the championships with final entries top be received no later than 17 March 2008.