For me, cross-country was something I did when I wanted a race and there was no orienteering or fell race available (although actually there were occasions when I did XC on a Saturday and then orienteering on the Sunday). But if I had been a die-hard XC runner as an undergraduate, I would have been pretty upset if I wasn't able to run competitive races for my university club 400 miles from home. Even having to travel from Birmingham to Aldershot for a XC fixture (as in Travs' example) seems a bit much.