Q 01/05

In a cross country meet where finishing places are added up, which team total wins the race?

A) The highest score

B) The lowest score

C) The fastest combined time

D) The narrowest time spread

Answer · why

B) The lowest score

The lowest score wins, because each runner earns points equal to their finishing place. Only a team's first five finishers count, so five solid runner...

Q 02/05

Which word, borrowed from a breed of hunting dog, appears in the names of many cross country clubs?

A) Setters

B) Pointers

C) Whippets

D) Harriers

Answer · why

D) Harriers

Harriers were hounds bred to trail hares, and early cross country runners chasing a human 'hare' borrowed the name. At Eton College the chasing pack w...

Q 03/05

Cross country running was dropped from Olympic athletics after 1924 but survives inside which multi-sport event?

A) Modern pentathlon

B) Olympic triathlon

C) Decathlon

D) Nordic combined

Answer · why

A) Modern pentathlon

Modern pentathlon ends with a run, the last of its five disciplines after fencing, swimming and the rest. Since 1928 that has been the only cross coun...

Q 04/05

Which city's 1924 Olympic cross country race, run in a heatwave, saw only 15 of 38 starters finish?

A) Antwerp

B) Amsterdam

C) Stockholm

D) Paris

Answer · why

D) Paris

Paris staged the race in heat above 40 °C, beside a power plant giving off fumes. So many runners collapsed that officials dropped cross country from ...

Q 05/05

Which 2015 Disney film tells the true story of a 1987 California high school cross country team?

A) Million Dollar Arm

B) Spare Parts

C) McFarland, USA

D) Draft Day

Answer · why

C) McFarland, USA

McFarland, USA stars Kevin Costner as coach Jim White, who leads runners from a mainly Latino high school to a state championship.