Belgian elites in cross country race Vilvoorde

One of the things an elite orienteer must have is a good basic speed.
As a motivation orienteers sometimes compete at cross country races. This weekend some Belgian elites participated in Vilvoorde, where a regional cross race took place. The parc '3 fonteinen' (also orienteering races are taking place here the map) was used for the competition.

Omega's Kim Geypen, running for RAM (Mechelen), is a member of the Belgian senior team. She had a very good run in the womens category. It's her 3th cross country race this season and this time she ended up in 6th place in a strong field, with good names..

In mens class our best Belgian orienteer Fabien Pasquasy (ACCO/ HOC) and also Jeroen van der Kleij (myself the writer of this article) competed in the senior category. I'm a newbie in athletics and cross country races in contrast to my father who was more specialized in the mid 70s.

The start was fast, Fabi was running with the strong guys in front. I was more in the back, after 200m my legs were already sore.. I realized immediately that it wasn't my day: mentally suffering and legs which felt like sore milk standing in the sun for days.. only my lungs, heart and stomach were feeling good.

So I was glad that the race ended after 22' 22"at 8.6 km, that's close to the world record!! But actually the distance was wrong indicated, I think it should be something like 6.2 km.
At the end Fabien took the 7th place in 19'39".. he was satisfied but also he prefered a longer race.

At the end the junior race, together with the short cross seniors took place. Benjamin Hofmans (a young member of the Belgian juniorteam) was participating. I don't know his place but we certainly saw him running very fast at the finish.. maybe because of our screaming ;-)

After the cross Fabien and me jogged together with his teammate 45minutes in the park. This was the nicest part :-). Even without orienteering, we enjoyed this afternoon.

Fabien Pasquasy (left) and Jeroen van der Kleij (right) after the cross in Vilvoorde

results of the race
result preliminary (only men seniors)
Report and photos (in Dutch)