Bathurst 2021 - One Year To Go

She’s up there, Mount Panorama. Sure, you won't find her next to Everest or Kilimanjaro in the travel brochures. As far as Mountains go, she’s not the biggest or the most beautiful, but she is the most adored. An icon of Australian sport; a venue and racetrack like no other.

Mount Panorama is part of Australia’s DNA. Crowds keep coming, and growing, as all-comers from motorsport to athletics ascend on the mountain to stake their claim at immortality.

A nation becomes transfixed; the spectacle of sport at Mount Panorama is a national institution. A theatre of power, adrenaline and endurance. 

There’s no right or wrong way to win at the Mountain. She makes heroes, anoints kings and queens, and hands out triumphs and tragedies in equal parts. For every winner, and for every champion at the Mountain, there are thousands of tears shed. 

On the Mountain, dreams are made and shattered, and ultimately she decides the outcome.

The World Athletics Cross Country Championships always attract a roll call of the very best there’s ever been. There’s no other distances here - no medal for 3000, or 5, or 10. Just one chance. Dominated by a select few.

Ethiopia and Kenya have won every women’s team medal since 1995. And only once in 40 years has the men’s team medal gone to anyone else.

But they’ve never done it here; Mount Panorama, Bathurst New South Wales.

The mountain. The spiritual home of Australian Sport. Relentlessly challenging. And now home to the first World Athletics Series event on the island continent in 25 years.

On Saturday, March 20, 2021, immortality awaits. 

About the Course

The World Athletics Cross Country Championship Bathurst 2021 course encapsulates the unique and picturesque landscape of regional New South Wales.

It is a technical course that will test both physical and mental ability. Like Aarhus 2019, this course will demand cross country nous as the athlete's rhythm is broken over several challenging sections. 

Runners will need to be constantly thinking about their pace, and
positioning in the pack. With the ever-present and iconic backdrop of Mount Panorama, spectators will have sweeping views of the runners as they navigate the Billabong, the Boomerang and the Vineyard.

The tough uphill start is followed by some gentler undulating sections. Then comes the Billabong. Up and out of the Billabong, athletes will be sorted out as they move on to the run through to the vineyard and its stunning autumn foliage. 

From there a fast downhill 350m section before sweeping up to complete the loop. At the end of the final loop there is a fast downhill 180m to the finish line.