Craig Virgin has been described as one of the most versatile American distance runnersnners. His two World Cross Country wins, the ONLY senior race wins by an American man, came in 1980 and 1981. Craig Virgin made headlines in the race, breaking one Steve Prefontaine’s 2-mile high school record, Craig’s 8:40.9 in 1973. 10,000 meters in his 27:39.4. In 1980, Craig regained the AR in the 10,000m with his 27:29.16, second in the world at the time. Craig Virgin made Olympic teams in 1976, 1980 and 1984, all in the 10,000 meters. His PB in the 5000m was 13:19.1 and his Marathon PB was 2:10.26, which came in the 1981 Boston Marathon where he finished third.
CraigVirgin.com
RunBlogRun Senior Writer Jeff Benjamin spoke with Craig at the Tallahassee World Cross Country on January 9, 2026. Virgo has always been prone to opinions, and she lived up to expectations. Here’s what he told Jeff.
1. About his love for the Tallahassee Cross Country Course.
Craig Virgin. “I told someone today here in Tallahassee when I go to the cross country course, I’m almost home and I’m so excited to see the colors. The flags of different athletes at the cross-country championships were something special to me for a whole decade.”
2. On how Craig Virgin prepared for his two World Cross Country titles:
Craig Virgin. “During my training over the years, November was Thanksgiving, December was Christmas, February was trials, and March was the World XC Championships.
My life revolved around it. I would start in-season training in October, Royal October, and it would represent six months of my training block in 23-week chunks; I wanted to be at a certain point by the end of March according to world cross country and that would tell me if I was on track for June-August. Another thing is that it was the only world championship that was held every year at that time, and that was important to me.
It was important to me to represent our country and attract other top athletes to come and join me in helping our country do well in this. Qualified nine times for 12 teams – participated in nine world championships – US men’s team was second in Pl. 5 times and 3rd place twice. They’d be popping the champagne corks today if we had results like that, and I’d like our teams representing the USA today.”
3. On getting the best Americans to compete in cross country.
Craig Virgin. I think having the Americans compete will add more importance to the match and give the team more importance because it worked for us in the 70s and 80s and I don’t see why they don’t see the same thing.
The other thing is for the outdoor track in the summer. Cross-Country is a great way to winterize your outdoor season from June to August.”
4. Regarding the current World Cross Country schedule.
Craig Virgin. “I like that Tallahassee has the meet and I know the agents and coaches might think otherwise, but if the XC trials were in January and the world championships were in February, it would make more sense, and it’s still a month earlier than it used to be. It will still allow them to play closed matches. That would move them out of the spring marathon in April.
5. Craig Virgin’s counter proposal for World Cross Country.
Craig Virgin. “At the moment there is no XC World Championship in 2027 and the next one won’t be until 2029. I think if we wait three years, we will lose all the momentum we gained after the meeting this year.
I counter that since Tallahassee has done all this work, next year’s World Cup should be held here again.
It gives them a second year to deal with this topic and I think it will benefit the sport and world athletics if they have the world championships here again.”
