The wait will be a little longer, but the slopes of Mount Panorama are still set to host a battle among the globe's finest cross country runners for world championships glory. It was a major coup for Bathurst when Mount Panorama was announced as the host of the 2021 World Athletics Cross Country Championships. A challenging two kilometre course, which competitors would be required to run five times, was revealed as excitement built over the championships' first visit to Australia. But that event, planned for March 20, had to be postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. When officials made the call in late July not to go ahead with the March 2021 championships, there were fears that Bathurst could lose hosting rights altogether as no guarantee was offered in regards to a new date being set. But after a meeting of the World Athletics Council at the end of November, it was revealed that the event would be postponed and not cancelled. Mount Panorama will now World Athletics Cross Country Championships on Saturday, February 19, 2022. "We are look forward to continuing our planning for this great event and will share further information in due course," the World Athletics Council said. Bathurst mayor Bobby Bourke welcomed the news the Mount would still get to host an event expected to draw more than 550 elite cross country runners from 60 countries. When the time comes, the championship will be a big financial boost to the region as well. "As long as we still get the chance to do it that's good, it gives us more time to make preparations I suppose," Cr Bourke said. "Mark Renshaw and Steve Moneghetti, they put a lot of work to getting it out here, so it would've been a shame if we didn't still get it. It's an iconic mountain and it's good to have motor racing and cross country there. "Hopefully that's enough time [for the pandemic to ease], hopefully we will know by then if it can go ahead. But look, we expect the car racing to get back up and going here so hopefully this can go ahead. "They've made the right decision to put it back, regional New South Wales, we'll look after them ... we want to help rejuvenate the country areas by having something like this and getting them out here."
