Belgian national team: season 2009

At this moment a lot of athletes are evaluating last season and also planning and preparing next season. Last month the Belgian junior and senior trainers had a meeting and talked about the coming season 2009.

Junior Team:
The main goals for the juniors (H/D-18 and H/D-20) next year will be: JWOC in Italy (5-12/06), Junior European Cup in Germany (17-18/10 or 23-24/10) and for the youngsters (H/D-16 and H/D-18) in the junior team: EYOC in Serbia (2-5/07).

Physical testrun:
will take place in Brussels together with the senior team (in december 2008 and march 2009). But the results aren't important for the juniors, it's just an indication from the current runningshape.

Selection races:
JWOC: the selection races will take place in Suisse - Montreux (01-03/05): sprint, middle and long distance.
EYOC: 4 national competitions in Belgium (in march and april) will decide about the selections for EYOC.
JEC: the selection race is the Belgian interclub championship (30/08) or A-final at JWOC.


Senior team:
Maingoals:
WOC in Hungary (18-23/09), Worldcup in Finland: middle and sprint (9-10/06), Worldcup in Norway: middle and long (26-27/06) and Worldcup in Suisse: middle and sprint (26-27/09).
Only the runners of the A-team can qualify for these competitions.
The runners in the B-team will focus on other competitions like Springcup in Denmark, Euromeeting in Suisse,...

Physical testrun:
the testrun will take place in Brussels (07/03) and a 2nd opportunity in april. During the testrun the men will run 6 laps and the women 5 laps. One lap is approximately 2km. The men who want to qualify for the A-team need to run faster than 45 minutes (12km) and also the women need to run faster than 45 minutes (10km).
The testrun takes place on little paths/trails in Brussels forest surroundings and it goes up and down whole the time. Last year the national team ran the same testrun twice: in december and february. The first time (in december), the men ran only 5 laps and likewise the women only 4 laps. So you have to count 7min30 extra for men and 9min extra for women, that's the average time for one lap if you want to run 45 minutes.
If we take a look at those results, only 3 male runners were able to run faster than 45 minutes. Etienne Van Gasse, Nicolas Sillien and Johan Goubeau were fast enough, the others were too slow. In the womens class, 3 athletes run faster than 45': Veerle Tulleneers, Aline Hermans and Kim Geypen. (Ofcourse the test was very early in the season and the test wasn't important).

If we take a look at the 2nd testrun (results), 4 male runners were able to run faster than 45 minutes: Etienne Van Gasse, Nicolas Sillien, Bart Delobel and Johan Goubeau. In the womens class, only Kim Geypen ran fast enough.

This season a lot of athletes (up to now 14 Flemish runners) registered for the national team. The trainers are probably happy about this, because it was their goal to have a large team in 2009. But last year only 2 Flemish runners were able to run faster than 45 minutes. So we can conclude that the other runners have to train hard this winter (only running, no orienteering) and need to be in good shape very early (the beginning of march) to qualify for the A-team (for example if they want to be qualified for the World cup in the end of september).

Selection races:
WOC: the races (only for the A-team) will take place in France: sprint, middle and long distance (01-03/05).
World Cup Finland and Norway: the trainers will take a look at the selection races in France and at other results.
World Cup Suisse: the trainers will take a look at the results at WOC and other competitions.

Teambuilding:
tomorrow the Flemish runners will start the season with a teambuilding weekend. This weekend should improve the atmosphere in the team and this will be an opportunity to talk about the program and personal goals in 2009.
Athletes who will be present tomorrow for the teambuilding:
Juniors: Lith Lefranc, Nele Put, Sien Verdeyen, Adriaan Pelckmans, Jeremy Genar, Wouter Leeuws and Yannick Michiels.
Seniors: Els Talloen, Greet Oeyen, Kim Geypen, Miek Fabré, Saartje Sallaerts, Sofie Herremans, Veerle Tulleneers, Benjamin Anciaux, Bruno De Lat, Desmond Franssen, Jeroen Hoeckx, Jeroen van der Kleij, Joost Talloen, Ken Peeters, Thomas van der Kleij, Wannes Hendrickx and Winston Franssen.

Registration for the national team is still possible untill 30/11 by writing an email to the trainers.

Sources (in Dutch): ABSO-BVOS ploegencommissie and VVO ploegencommissie