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MONTE CARLO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The 207th meeting of the IAAF council has awarded the right to host the 2019 World Cross Country Championships to Denmark's second biggest city of Aarhus.
Aarhus won the bid as the sole candidate after the other city having expressed interest, Hammamet in Tunisia, failed to submit a formal bid by the deadline of Oct. 15. The world athletics governing body opened the bidding process on March 29.
In addition to hosting the 2019 edition, Aarhus also committed to support races for 2,000 school children and a mass race expected to attract some 8,000 runners.
"I am delighted that Denmark will again be hosting an IAAF World Athletics Series event," said IAAF President Sebastian Coe.
"In 2014, they delivered a wonderful World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen which successfully married the elite world title races with a mass run, and I'm encouraged by similar plans for Aarhus in 2019," Coe added.
Danish officials are also expressing high hopes for a fresh take on the event to be hosted in their country.
"We are humbled by the trust of the IAAF to be able to once again host the world in our country," remarked Danish Federation director Jakob Larsen. "It is no secret that we will be looking to freshen things up." Enditem
