The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships will come to an end after 45 years, according to an announcement Foot Locker released on Thursday.
The regional series was viewed as one of the most prominent prep cross country meets, with an enormous list of track and road standouts who have since gone on to notoriety in the sport and was the longest event of its kind for high school students.
“After thoughtful and careful consideration, Foot Locker has made the difficult decision to conclude the annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships (FLXC),” Foot Locker said in a statement. “As we look to the future, this strategic decision reflects our ongoing commitment to evaluating where we can make the most meaningful impact for our business, our customers, and the communities we serve, including the running community.”
The meet originally started under the F. W. Woolworth Company in 1979 and was given the name as the Kinney Cross Country Championships and staged at the Morley Field Sports Complex in Balboa Park in San Diego, California.
By the early 90s the event was renamed with the Foot Locker branding and grew in popularity with four regional divisions (northeast, midwest, south and west). In 2021, the meet was again rebranded, but under Foot Locker’s Eastbay division.
The meets would typically filed several races in division that included seeded girls/boys, freshman girls/boys, sophomore girls/boys, junior girls/boys, senior girls/boys, with some regionals hosting races for younger students who were not in high school.
Last year’s regionals were held in late November with the national champions on December 14.
“For the past 45 years, the FLXC has been more than just a race; it has been a celebration of passion, perseverance, and the boundless potential of student-athletes across the country,” Foot Locker continued in its statement. “As the longest running cross country race in the nation, it has brought together generations of runners, coaches, families, and fans and helped build one of the most inspiring communities in high school sports.”
In the early 2000s, Foot Locker’s event saw increased competition when Nike Team Nationals, later renamed Nike Cross Nationals, was unveiled and adopted a similar format to the FLXC events. And while more events were looked at as a positive by some school, the best runners in the national could only pick one meet because of conflicting event dates.
Meanwhile, has long been a staple for high school cross country programs and fielded top talent over the years that included Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall, Kara Goucher, Dathan Ritzenhein, Deena Kastor, Molly Huddle, Sara Hall and Galen Rupp, among many others.
What is unclear is the event and its structure could live on under another company’s stewardship. The last three FLXC events were held alongside sponsorship from Hoka, with New Balance and Asics on board as partners in previous years.
But by late Thursday, RunningLane, which has hosted its own established cross country meet in Huntsville, Alabama since 2020, posted a message on social media that seemingly took at jab at Foot Locker’s decision to cancel its event while promising an option for competitive high school athletes to gather.
“Generations of runners dreamed of racing under the palm trees in San Diego, chasing legends who came before them. But as history shows, even the strongest traditions can falter-Foot Locker Nationals has been discontinued, leaving a void in the sport’s most storied championship stage,” the post read. “At RunningLane, we believe that the athletes of today and tomorrow deserve more. That’s why the New Balance RunningLane Cross Country Championships (RXC) exists: to ensure there will always be a national stage where the best come together to race.”
“This is your era. Your chance to line up with the nation’s best and make your mark in history,” the post continued “RXC is more than a race — it’s a promise that the tradition of high school cross country championships will never be broken again. We’re proud to pick up where others left off, and we’ll be here every December, rain or shine, because you deserve it.”
