Kerr et al. 2016, epidemiology of collegiate cross-country injuries

Surveillance study in the Journal of Athletic Training of injuries in US collegiate men’s and women’s cross country across five seasons. Injury rates were 4.66 per 1000 athlete-exposures for men and 5.85 for women, so women’s rate was about 1.25 times the men’s. Injuries were overwhelmingly to the lower extremity (about 90% in men, 82% in women), and strains and inflammation or overuse conditions dominated. Practice and competition injury rates were broadly similar, consistent with cross-country injury being largely cumulative overuse rather than acute trauma. A large, reliable dataset for injury rates and types, though a descriptive US-collegiate sample, so its mechanism inferences are weaker than its rates.