Distance running in general — and cross-country running specifically — was just gaining steam in 1966. Team USA first appeared at the International Cross Country Championship as an outsider, partaking in an event which had originated in 1903 with the four home nations of the United Kingdom. America only had funds to send a senior men’s team, but they performed admirably. Tracy Smith, five days advanced from his 21st birthday, finished ahead of England’s top runner, Roy Fowler, to secure a bronze medal. Nobody had given the Americans a fighting chance.

At the time, the AAU had a stranglehold on amateur athletic competition beyond the collegiate level, and it was the upstart Road Runners Club of America that raised the funds in defiance of this governing body. RRC President Hugh Jascourt shared his thoughts on the matter:

“The era which has just begun is the age of international competition for long distance runners. The RRC’s just completed trip should be an example to all. Most of you probably laughed and thought it was just a pipe dream when we said we needed money to get a team to the 53rd Annual International XC Championships. Many of you probably thought that it was a gimmick when we said that this could change the future of long distance running. Well, give a look what happened! A team did go! For the first time the U.S. has been entered in the world championship of cross country running. The team, composed of solely of RRC members, could have been much better had various athletes and coaches cooperated. We had only a senior team because we did not raise enough money for a junior team. No one on our team was an experienced internationalist nor used to the obstacle-type course they were to face on the 12KM route in Morocco. Despite illness the team placed fifth, only 10 points out of third as Tracy Smith swept past Michel Jazy to grab third in the individual race. The many congratulations we received for our performance were sincere because out of it came 1) An invitation to the Int. XC Champs in Wales in 1967; 2) An invitation to the 1968 title run in Tunisia.”

The following year American Doris Brown Heritage made her debut in the International XC at the first-ever women’s championship in 1967. Her string of five-consecutive victories would set a high bar that would last decades before being challenged by another American, Lynn Jennings, 20 years later.

It should also be noted that prior to 1973, the International Cross Country Championship was run by its own governing body, the International Cross Country Union. This was a meaningful distinction because it meant the U.S. could only compete with an invitation, as 1968 Team USA member Browning Ross discovered when he attended:

“After hearing my request as to the procedure necessary for the admittance of the USA to the Int. XC Union, George Dunn, the hard-working secretary both of the English XC Union and the Int. XC Union, told me that the IAAF had closed the ICCU to twelve nations and a nation could be admitted only if another drops out.”

It wouldn’t be until 1974 that the U.S. competed with true consistency, when the governance of the IAAF opened the newly rebranded World Cross Country Championship to all member nations.