# 1981 IAAF World Cross Country Championships – Senior men's race

The Senior men's race at the 1981 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Madrid, Spain, at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela on March 28, 1981. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald.
Complete results, medallists, and the results of British athletes were published.

## Race results
### Senior men's race (12 km)
#### Individual

| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time |
| | Craig Virgin | United States | 35:05 |
| | Mohammed Kedir | Ethiopia | 35:07 |
| | Fernando Mamede | Portugal | 35:09 |
| 4 | Julian Goater | England | 35:13 |
| 5 | Antonio Prieto | Spain | 35:18 |
| 6 | Rob de Castella | Australia | 35:20 |
| 7 | Girma Berhanu | Ethiopia | 35:22 |
| 8 | Thom Hunt | United States | 35:23 |
| 9 | Alex Hagelsteens | Belgium | 35:24 |
| 10 | Pierre Levisse | France | 35:26 |
| 11 | Rod Dixon | New Zealand | 35:30 |
| 12 | El Hachami Abdenouz | Algeria | 35:34 |
| 13 | Dereje Nedi | Ethiopia | 35:39 |
| 14 | Kebede Balcha | Ethiopia | 35:40 |
| 15 | Miruts Yifter | Ethiopia | 35:42 |
| 16 | Martti Vainio | Finland | 35:42 |
| 17 | Mark Nenow | United States | 35:42 |
| 18 | Bill Donakowski | United States | 35:42 |
| 19 | Bruce Bickford | United States | 35:42 |
| 20 | Roger de Vogel | Belgium | 35:46 |
| 21 | Lahcene Babaci | Algeria | 35:47 |
| 22 | Jackson Ruto | Kenya | 35:49 |
| 23 | Steve Austin | Australia | 35:50 |
| 24 | Peter Koech | Kenya | 35:50 |
| 25 | Alfred Nyasani | Kenya | 35:50 |
| 26 | Nat Muir | Scotland | 35:50 |
| 27 | José Luis González | Spain | 35:50 |
| 28 | Hans-Jürgen Orthmann | West Germany | 35:50 |
| 29 | Fernando Cerrada | Spain | 35:55 |
| 30 | Eshetu Tura | Ethiopia | 35:59 |
| 31 | Steve Jones | Wales | 35:59 |
| 32 | Hana Girma | Ethiopia | 35:59 |
| 33 | Steve Binns | England | 35:59 |
| 34 | John Andrews | Australia | 35:59 |
| 35 | Marios Kassianidis | Greece | 35:59 |
| 36 | Sammy Mogene | Kenya | 35:59 |
| 37 | Rachid Habchaoui | Algeria | 35:59 |
| 38 | Dave Clarke | England | 35:59 |
| 39 | Leonid Moseyev | Soviet Union | 36:05 |
| 40 | Bill Britton | Canada | 36:05 |
| 41 | Paul Ballinger | New Zealand | 36:05 |
| 42 | Luis Adsuara | Spain | 36:05 |
| 43 | Marc Nevens | Belgium | 36:05 |
| 44 | Eberhard Weyel | West Germany | 36:05 |
| 45 | Abdelmadjid Mada | Algeria | 36:05 |
| 46 | Vlastimil Zwiefelhofer | Czechoslovakia | 36:05 |
| 47 | Peter Butler | Canada | 36:05 |
| 48 | Allister Hutton | Scotland | 36:05 |
| 49 | Brian Lewry | Australia | 36:12 |
| 50 | Radhouane Bouster | France | 36:12 |
| 51 | George Malley | United States | 36:12 |
| 52 | Valeriy Sapon | Soviet Union | 36:12 |
| 53 | Miroslav Bauckmann | Czechoslovakia | 36:20 |
| 54 | John Robson | Scotland | 36:20 |
| 55 | Mohamed Zaidi | Tunisia | 36:20 |
| 56 | Wilson Musonik | Kenya | 36:20 |
| 57 | Some Muge | Kenya | 36:20 |
| 58 | Euan Robertson | New Zealand | 36:20 |
| 59 | David James | Wales | 36:20 |
| 60 | Dave Taylor | Ireland | 36:20 |
| 61 | Patrick Clabaut | France | 36:20 |
| 62 | Maxwell Little | Australia | 36:20 |
| 63 | Daniel Dillon | United States | 36:20 |
| 64 | Eric de Beck | Belgium | 36:20 |
| 65 | Klaas Lok | Netherlands | 36:30 |
| 66 | José Sena | Portugal | 36:30 |
| 67 | Detlef Uhlemann | West Germany | 36:30 |
| 68 | Joseph Kiptum | Kenya | 36:30 |
| 69 | Venanzio Ortis | Italy | 36:30 |
| 70 | Ken Newton | England | 36:30 |
| 71 | Yevgeniy Okorokov | Soviet Union | 36:30 |
| 72 | Cor Lambregts | Netherlands | 36:30 |
| 73 | Greg Duhaime | Canada | 36:30 |
| 74 | Angel Gómez Maeso | Spain | 36:30 |
| 75 | Tolossa Kotu | Ethiopia | 36:30 |
| 76 | Bernie Ford | England | 36:30 |
| 77 | Jorge García | Spain | 36:30 |
| 78 | Vadim Sidorov | Soviet Union | 36:30 |
| 79 | Vern Iwancin | Canada | 36:30 |
| 80 | Mike McGuire | United States | 36:30 |
| 81 | Chris Wardlaw | Australia | 36:30 |
| 82 | Gerry Deegan | Ireland | 36:30 |
| 83 | Daniel Janczuk | Poland | 36:38 |
| 84 | Alex Gonzalez | France | 36:38 |
| 85 | François Person | France | 36:38 |
| 86 | Rafael Marques | Portugal | 36:38 |
| 87 | Nicolas Halatzis | Greece | 36:38 |
| 88 | Vladimir Anisimov | Soviet Union | 36:38 |
| 89 | Kyriakos Lazaridis | Greece | 36:44 |
| 90 | Ralf Salzmann | West Germany | 36:44 |
| 91 | Dave Moorcroft | England | 36:44 |
| 92 | Santiago de la Parte | Spain | 36:44 |
| 93 | Jan van Oss | Netherlands | 36:44 |
| 94 | Alberto Cova | Italy | 36:44 |
| 95 | Aniceto Simoes | Portugal | 36:44 |
| 96 | Ryszard Kopijasz | Poland | 36:44 |
| 97 | Vesa Kähkölä | Finland | 36:44 |
| 98 | Bogumil Kus | Poland | 36:50 |
| 99 | Giuseppe Gerbi | Italy | 36:50 |
| 100 | Garry Bentley | Australia | 36:50 |
| 101 | John Woods | Ireland | 36:50 |
| 102 | Tommy Persson | Sweden | 36:50 |
| 103 | Mark Muggleton | United States | 36:50 |
| 104 | Desmond O'Connor | Ireland | 36:50 |
| 105 | Mehdi Aidet | Algeria | 36:59 |
| 106 | Ronny Agten | Belgium | 36:59 |
| 107 | Krzysztof Wesolowski | Poland | 36:59 |
| 108 | Christoph Herle | West Germany | 36:59 |
| 109 | Luigi Zarcone | Italy | 36:59 |
| 110 | Hannu Okkola | Finland | 36:59 |
| 111 | Bernardo Manuel | Angola | 36:59 |
| 112 | Dominique Chauvelier | France | 36:59 |
| 113 | Fotios Kourtis | Greece | 36:59 |
| 114 | Boguslaw Psujek | Poland | 36:59 |
| 115 | Adelaziz Bouguerra | Tunisia | 36:59 |
| 116 | Tom Birnie | New Zealand | 36:59 |
| 117 | Tonni Luttikhold | Netherlands | 36:59 |
| 118 | Neil Cusack | Ireland | 36:59 |
| 119 | Arturo Iacona | Italy | 36:59 |
| 120 | John Doherty | Northern Ireland | 36:59 |
| 121 | John Robertshaw | Wales | 36:59 |
| 122 | Ian Gilmour | Scotland | 37:05 |
| 123 | Valeriy Abramov | Soviet Union | 37:17 |
| 124 | Francisco Sánchez | Spain | 37:17 |
| 125 | Gary Palmer | New Zealand | 37:17 |
| 126 | Roger Hackney | Wales | 37:17 |
| 127 | Filippos Filippou | Greece | 37:17 |
| 128 | Helder de Jesús | Portugal | 37:17 |
| 129 | Mihaíl Koúsis | Greece | 37:17 |
| 130 | Kaibou El Hadj | Algeria | 37:17 |
| 131 | Chris Buckley | Wales | 37:17 |
| 132 | Kevin Forster | England | 37:17 |
| 133 | Claudio Solone | Italy | 37:17 |
| 134 | Lawrie Spence | Scotland | 37:17 |
| 135 | Emiel Puttemans | Belgium | 37:17 |
| 136 | Barry Ellis | New Zealand | 37:17 |
| 137 | Bram Wassenaar | Netherlands | 37:17 |
| 138 | Günther Zahn | West Germany | 37:17 |
| 139 | Jef Gees | Belgium | 37:17 |
| 140 | Art Boileau | Canada | 37:17 |
| 141 | Piet Vonck | Netherlands | 37:17 |
| 142 | Alain Bordeleau | Canada | 37:34 |
| 143 | Justin Gloden | Luxembourg | 37:34 |
| 144 | Yehuda Zadok | Israel | 37:34 |
| 145 | Rabah Zaidi | Tunisia | 37:34 |
| 146 | Jacques Boxberger | France | 37:34 |
| 147 | Adriano Musonye | Kenya | 37:34 |
| 148 | Willy van Huylenbroeck | Belgium | 37:34 |
| 149 | Henrik Sandström | Finland | 37:34 |
| 150 | Mario Gelli | Italy | 37:34 |
| 151 | Alan Thurlow | New Zealand | 37:34 |
| 152 | Peter Daenens | Belgium | 37:34 |
| 153 | Spiridon Nakos | Greece | 37:34 |
| 154 | Abdelkrim Djelassi | Tunisia | 37:34 |
| 155 | Mahmoud Hazzazi | Algeria | 37:34 |
| 156 | Niels Kim Hjorth | Denmark | 37:34 |
| 157 | Faisal Touzri | Tunisia | 37:34 |
| 158 | Rob Lonergan | Canada | 37:34 |
| 159 | Andreas Weniger | West Germany | 37:50 |
| 160 | Antonio Leitão | Portugal | 37:50 |
| 161 | Denis Stark | Canada | 37:50 |
| 162 | Ali Ouchene | Algeria | 37:50 |
| 163 | Alan Cole | Wales | 37:50 |
| 164 | Hussein Soltani | Tunisia | 37:50 |
| 165 | Bob Treadwell | England | 37:50 |
| 166 | Gerry Craig | Northern Ireland | 37:50 |
| 167 | Juan Torres | Spain | 37:50 |
| 168 | John Hartnett | Ireland | 37:50 |
| 169 | Greg Hannon | Northern Ireland | 37:50 |
| 170 | Ilpo Jousimaa | Finland | 37:50 |
| 171 | Robert Neylon | Australia | 37:50 |
| 172 | Tony Simmons | Wales | 37:50 |
| 173 | John McLaughlin | Northern Ireland | 37:50 |
| 174 | Tony Blakewell | Wales | 37:50 |
| 175 | Mehmet Yürdadön | Turkey | 37:50 |
| 176 | Flemming Jensen | Denmark | 37:50 |
| 177 | Thierry Watrice | France | 38:04 |
| 178 | Vladimir Kotov | Soviet Union | 38:04 |
| 179 | John O'Toole | Ireland | 38:04 |
| 180 | Donald Greig | New Zealand | 38:04 |
| 181 | Peter Rusman | Netherlands | 38:04 |
| 182 | Dave Edge | Canada | 38:04 |
| 183 | Svend-Erik Kristensen | Denmark | 38:15 |
| 184 | Abdellah Messadia | Algeria | 38:15 |
| 185 | Keld Johnsen | Denmark | 38:23 |
| 186 | Michael Lane | Wales | 38:23 |
| 187 | Timothy O'Shaughnessy | Australia | 38:29 |
| 188 | Danny McDaid | Ireland | 38:37 |
| 189 | Féthi Baccouche | Tunisia | 38:37 |
| 190 | Nikólaos Argyuropoulos | Greece | 38:37 |
| 191 | Erkki Hälikkä | Finland | 38:37 |
| 192 | Alastair Douglas | Scotland | 38:37 |
| 193 | Gerhard Krippner | West Germany | 38:40 |
| 194 | Klaus Scharnberg Jensen | Denmark | 38:40 |
| 195 | Henk Mentink | Netherlands | 38:51 |
| 196 | Mansour Guettaya | Tunisia | 38:51 |
| 197 | Kimmo Mattila | Finland | 39:05 |
| 198 | Gerhard Hartmann | Austria | 39:15 |
| 199 | Gerard Kiernan | Ireland | 39:18 |
| 200 | John Rotich | Kenya | 39:18 |
| 201 | Pat McCullough | Northern Ireland | 39:20 |
| 202 | Pawel Lorens | Poland | 39:23 |
| 203 | Piero Selvaggio | Italy | 39:30 |
| 204 | Amara Chiha | Tunisia | 39:33 |
| 205 | Paul Craig | Northern Ireland | 39:45 |
| 206 | Morten Nøddebo | Denmark | 39:45 |
| 207 | Valeriy Kryulin | Soviet Union | 39:54 |
| 208 | Mike McLeod | England | 40:24 |
| 209 | Antonio Atabao | Portugal | 40:32 |
| 210 | Nabil Choueiry | Lebanon | 40:47 |
| 211 | Heino Lipsanen | Finland | 41:10 |
| 212 | João Carvalho | Angola | 41:25 |
| 213 | Musaed Al-Baghi | Saudi Arabia | 41:34 |
| 214 | Luis Muholo | Angola | 41:45 |
| 215 | Pedro Luciano | Angola | 41:51 |
| 216 | Ernesto José | Angola | 42:01 |
| 217 | Nader Al-Outaibi | Saudi Arabia | 42:05 |
| 218 | Pedro Capoca | Angola | 42:05 |
| 219 | Atieah Al-Shahrani | Saudi Arabia | 42:27 |
| 220 | Juvenal Minguito | Angola | 42:27 |
| 221 | Abdenghani Abdulridola | Saudi Arabia | 42:33 |
| 222 | Hamdan Al-Qahtani | Saudi Arabia | 42:40 |
| 223 | Abdulatif Moharit | Saudi Arabia | 42:51 |
| 224 | Sekou Camara | Guinea | 42:53 |
| 225 | Manuel Pascoal | Angola | 43:15 |
| 226 | Shetoui Aouadh Al-Bishi | Saudi Arabia | 43:16 |
| 227 | Ahmed Al-Thubiani | Saudi Arabia | 43:39 |
| 228 | Mamadou Barry | Guinea | 44:58 |
| — | Arye Gamliel | Israel | DNF |
| — | Francis Gonzalez | France | DNF |
| — | Carlos Lopes | Portugal | DNF |
| — | Kaarlo Maaninka | Finland | DNF |
| — | Bronisław Malinowski | Poland | DNF |
| — | Peter Renner | New Zealand | DNF |
| — | Graham Williamson | Scotland | DNF |
| — | Jim Brown | Scotland | DNF |
| — | Fernando Miguel | Portugal | DNF |
| — | Fraser Clyne | Scotland | DNF |

#### Teams

| Rank | Team | Points |
| | Ethiopia Mohammed Kedir2 Girma Berhanu7 Dereje Nedi13 Kebede Balcha14 Miruts Yifter15 Eshetu Tura30 (Hana Girma)(32) (Tolossa Kotu)(75) | 81 |
| | United States Craig Virgin1 Thom Hunt8 Mark Nenow17 Bill Donakowski18 Bruce Bickford19 George Malley51 (Daniel Dillon)(63) (Mike McGuire)(80) (Mark Muggleton)(103) | 114 |
| | Kenya Jackson Ruto22 Peter Koech24 Alfred Nyasani25 Sammy Mogene36 Wilson Musonik56 Some Muge57 (Joseph Kiptum)(68) (Adriano Musonye)(147) (John Rotich)(200) | 220 |
| 4 | Spain Antonio Prieto5 José Luis González27 Fernando Cerrada29 Luis Adsuara42 Angel Gómez Maeso74 Jorge García77 (Santiago de la Parte)(92) (Francisco Sánchez)(124) (Juan Torres)(167) | 254 |
| 5 | Australia Rob de Castella6 Steve Austin23 John Andrews34 Brian Lewry49 Maxwell Little62 Chris Wardlaw81 (Garry Bentley)(100) (Robert Neylon)(171) (Timothy O'Shaughnessy)(187) | 255 |
| 6 | England Julian Goater4 Steve Binns33 Dave Clarke38 Ken Newton70 Bernie Ford76 Dave Moorcroft91 (Kevin Forster)(132) (Bob Treadwell)(165) (Mike McLeod)(208) | 312 |
| 7 | Algeria El Hachami Abdenouz12 Lahcene Babaci21 Rachid Habchaoui37 Abdelmadjid Mada45 Mehdi Aidet105 Kaibou El Hadj130 (Mahmoud Hazzazi)(155) (Ali Ouchene)(162) (Abdellah Messadia)(184) | 350 |
| 8 | Belgium Alex Hagelsteens9 Roger de Vogel20 Marc Nevens43 Eric de Beck64 Ronny Agten106 Emiel Puttemans135 (Jef Gees)(139) (Willy van Huylenbroeck)(148) (Peter Daenens)(152) | 377 |
| 9 | France Pierre Levisse10 Radhouane Bouster50 Patrick Clabaut61 Alex Gonzalez84 François Person85 Dominique Chauvelier112 (Jacques Boxberger)(146) (Thierry Watrice)(177) (Francis Gonzalez)(DNF) | 402 |
| 10 | Soviet Union Leonid Moseyev39 Valeriy Sapon52 Yevgeniy Okorokov71 Vadim Sidorov78 Vladimir Anisimov88 Valeriy Abramov123 (Vladimir Kotov)(178) (Valeriy Kryulin)(207) | 451 |
| 11 | West Germany Hans-Jürgen Orthmann28 Eberhard Weyel44 Detlef Uhlemann67 Ralf Salzmann90 Christoph Herle108 Günther Zahn138 (Andreas Weniger)(159) (Gerhard Krippner)(193) | 475 |
| 12 | New Zealand Rod Dixon11 Paul Ballinger41 Euan Robertson58 Tom Birnie116 Gary Palmer125 Barry Ellis136 (Alan Thurlow)(151) (Donald Greig)(180) (Peter Renner)(DNF) | 487 |
| 13 | Canada Bill Britton40 Peter Butler47 Greg Duhaime73 Vern Iwancin79 Art Boileau140 Alain Bordeleau142 (Rob Lonergan)(158) (Denis Stark)(161) (Dave Edge)(182) | 521 |
| 14 | Portugal Fernando Mamede3 José Sena66 Rafael Marques86 Aniceto Simoes95 Helder de Jesús128 Antonio Leitão160 (Antonio Atabao)(209) (Carlos Lopes)(DNF) (Fernando Miguel)(DNF) | 538 |
| 15 | Scotland Nat Muir26 Allister Hutton48 John Robson54 Ian Gilmour122 Lawrie Spence134 Alastair Douglas192 (Graham Williamson)(DNF) (Jim Brown)(DNF) (Fraser Clyne)(DNF) | 576 |
| 16 | Greece Marios Kassianidis35 Nicolas Halatzis87 Kyriakos Lazaridis89 Fotios Kourtis113 Filippos Filippou127 Mihaíl Koúsis129 (Spiridon Nakos)(153) (Nikólaos Argyuropoulos)(190) | 580 |
| 17 | Italy Venanzio Ortis69 Alberto Cova94 Giuseppe Gerbi99 Luigi Zarcone109 Arturo Iacona119 Claudio Solone133 (Mario Gelli)(150) (Piero Selvaggio)(203) | 623 |
| 18 | Netherlands Klaas Lok65 Cor Lambregts72 Jan van Oss93 Tonni Luttikhold117 Bram Wassenaar137 Piet Vonck141 (Peter Rusman)(181) (Henk Mentink)(195) | 625 |
| 19 | Wales Steve Jones31 David James59 John Robertshaw121 Roger Hackney126 Chris Buckley131 Alan Cole163 (Tony Simmons)(172) (Tony Blakewell)(174) (Michael Lane)(186) | 631 |
| 20 | Ireland Dave Taylor60 Gerry Deegan82 John Woods101 Desmond O'Connor104 Neil Cusack118 John Hartnett168 (John O'Toole)(179) (Danny McDaid)(188) (Gerard Kiernan)(199) | 633 |
| 21 | Poland Daniel Janczuk83 Ryszard Kopijasz96 Bogumil Kus98 Krzysztof Wesolowski107 Boguslaw Psujek114 Pawel Lorens202 (Bronisław Malinowski)(DNF) | 700 |
| 22 | Finland Martti Vainio16 Vesa Kähkölä97 Hannu Okkola110 Henrik Sandström149 Ilpo Jousimaa170 Erkki Hälikkä191 (Kimmo Mattila)(197) (Heino Lipsanen)(211) (Kaarlo Maaninka)(DNF) | 733 |
| 23 | Tunisia Mohamed Zaidi55 Adelaziz Bouguerra115 Rabah Zaidi145 Abdelkrim Djelassi154 Faisal Touzri157 Hussein Soltani164 (Féthi Baccouche)(189) (Mansour Guettaya)(196) (Amara Chiha)(204) | 790 |
| 24 | Northern Ireland John Doherty120 Gerry Craig166 Greg Hannon169 John McLaughlin173 Pat McCullough201 Paul Craig205 | 1034 |
| 25 | Denmark Niels Kim Hjorth156 Flemming Jensen176 Svend-Erik Kristensen183 Keld Johnsen185 Klaus Scharnberg Jensen194 Morten Nøddebo206 | 1100 |
| 26 | Angola Bernardo Manuel111 João Carvalho212 Luis Muholo214 Pedro Luciano215 Ernesto José216 Pedro Capoca218 (Juvenal Minguito)(220) (Manuel Pascoal)(225) | 1186 |
| 27 | Saudi Arabia Musaed Al-Baghi213 Nader Al-Outaibi217 Atieah Al-Shahrani219 Abdenghani Abdulridola221 Hamdan Al-Qahtani222 Abdulatif Moharit223 (Shetoui Aouadh Al-Bishi)(226) (Ahmed Al-Thubiani)(227) | 1315 |
* Note: Athletes in parentheses did not score for the team result

## Participation

An unofficial count yields the participation of 238 athletes from 35 countries in the Senior men's race. This is in agreement with the official numbers as published.
* Algeria (9)
* Angola (8)
* Australia (9)
* Austria (1)
* Belgium (9)
* Canada (9)
* Czechoslovakia (2)
* Denmark (6)
* England (9)
* Ethiopia (8)
* Finland (9)
* France (9)
* Greece (8)
* Guinea (2)
* Ireland (9)
* Israel (2)
* Italy (8)
* Kenya (9)
* Lebanon (1)
* Luxembourg (1)
* Netherlands (8)
* New Zealand (9)
* Northern Ireland (6)
* Poland (7)
* Portugal (9)
* Saudi Arabia (8)
* Scotland (9)
* Soviet Union (8)
* Spain (9)
* Sweden (1)
* Tunisia (9)
* Turkey (1)
* United States (9)
* Wales (9)
* West Germany (8)