The scheduling of the event varies – sometimes it is held in late Autumn from October to November, other times in spring from February to April.
After an initial hosting in 1916, it was formally established as an annual event from 1920 onwards.
Initially a men's competition only, a women's championship race was introduced in 1947.
Additional short course races over four kilometres were occasionally held at the championships, appearing in 1958 and during the distance's presence at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1998 to 2006 (bar 2001).
The most successful athlete in the men's race, and overall, is Cristea Dinu, who won ten titles in the period from 1935 to 1951.