WRE: Sylvester stage 5

Who won the last world ranking event in 2008? The answer is: Thomas van der Kleij (BEL) and Masha Semak (UKR). They were the winners at the 5th stage at the sylvester 5-days in Belgium.


In class H21E Thomas van der Kleij ran a strong race. It was obvious that he's recovered from his flu. He was pretty happy about his result and he didn't make any big mistakes. He lost some time towards control 6, because he wasn't sure about his direction. He ran without a compass for the 2nd day in a row. It looks like the new Pasi Ikonen is born.
Nick Barrable from Great-Brittain became 2nd today. He lost crucial time towards the 19th control (33 seconds). At the finishline he was 26 seconds slower than van der Kleij. Desmond Franssen, who didn't make any big mistakes, became 3rd. He was 48 seconds slower than the winner. Junior runner Wouter Leeuws became 4th, Jeroen Hoekx 5th and Michel Bastin 6th.

In the overall ranking, we expected a close fight between Ken Peeters (BEL) and Nick Barrable (GBR). But Peeters had an off-day and became 13th today. So Nick Barrable won the sylvester 5-days. He was better than Ken Peeters (2nd) and Jan Oeyen (3th).

Ken Peeters (photos: Jacques Grauls)

In women's class (D21E) Masha Semak (UKR) took the victory. She was 3'30 faster than Kim Geypen (BEL). The fight for the 3th spot was very close. But Sadie Zwikker (NED) became 3rd, Katja Stöckli (SUI) 4th, Aline Hermans (BEL) 5th and Sabrina Merihein (FIN) 6th.

In the overall ranking Masha Semak was the clear winner. Sabrina Merihein became 2nd and Saartje Sallaerts 3rd.

Map (routechoices Desmond Franssen)
Results
Splits
Final results sylvester 5-days
WRE-ranking
Bel-ranking
Photos

4th stage Sylvester 5-days

Results, splits and map from stage 4 (Klein Schietveld) are visible below.

Nederlands:
De voorlaatste etappe bleek voor de meeste elitelopers eerder een overgangsetappe.
Hoewel de kaart zeker interessanter is dan die van Sledderlo kwamen er toch minder toppers aan de start.

Top 3's of todays race were:

H21E:
1. BARRABLE Nick GBR South London Orienteers 0:56:09
2. ZWIKER Daniel SUI OLG Galgenen 0:59:07
3. PEETERS Ken BEL TROL 1:00:39

D21E:
1. SEMAK Masha UKR Farum 0:49:03
2. SALLAERTS Saartje BEL K.O.L. 0:54:39
3. MERIHEIN Sabrina FIN IF Sibbo-Vargarna 0:58:34

Reactie Ken: "ik doen kei veel fouten. Al die posten in die putten, ni te doen. En aan de 4 zit ik gewoon verkie-erd. Ma iedereen doet precies keiveel fouten."

Reactie Joost Talloen: "ik testte vandaag de benen, en ze voelden super. Ik ben klaar voor WRE van morgen".

Reactie Thomas van der Kleij: "Ik voel me elke dag beter. Vandaag vond ik het terrein zeker niet zwaar. Ik zal er morgen staan."

Het wordt erg spannend voor de eerste plaats morgen. Ken Peeters liet een steekje vallen vandaag en zal morgen alles uit de kan moeten halen om Nick Barrable van de eerste plaats te houden.

Bij de vrouwen (D21E) is het duidelijk dat Semak met de bloemen zal gaan lopen. In andere categoriën is het dan weer heel spannend: D40,D50, H45, H55, ...

Morgen volgt de laatste wedstrijd van 2008, eveneens de laatste WRE over de hele wereld.

Results
Splits
Map (H18 - Yannick Michiels)

Ken Peeters gunt anderen niets in de Sylvester

Ken Peeters heeft een twee op drie gescoord in de Sylvester. Ook in Sledderlo kon niemand Peeters bedreigen. De start leverde het omgekeerde scenario op van zaterdag. Dit keer was Peeters wel goed weg en was het Buytaert die moest achtervolgen.

Buytaert weerde zich als een duivel in een wijwatervat, maar raakte niet meer bij de kopgroep.
Die kopgroep bestond uit Peeters, de Zwitser Zwiker en de Brit Barrable en de alweer bevestigende Oeyen.
Halverwege plaatste Peeters zijn beslissende jump in de technische zone. Hij keek niet meer om en hield gemakkelijk stand.
"Het was niet gemakkelijk om het verschil te maken"
Ken Peeters vond de wedstrijd in Sledderlo lastiger dan die van vrijdag in Oirschot.

"Tot halfweg was ik alleen bezig met het klassement. Ik was al tevreden met de topdrie", zei de Winnaar.
"Pas toen ik merkte dat ik er door kwam, dacht ik aan de overwinning."

Frank Buytaert achtervolgde de hele race, maar strandde op de vijfde plaats. "Teleurgesteld? Ach, ik kan dit relativeren."
"Het had beter kunnen zijn als ik betere benen had gehad. Maar dat was niet zo", zei Frank Buytaert.

"Bij de start ging ik in de fout, net als Peeters gisteren. Als je top bent, maak je dat goed, maar de wedstrijd van zaterdag zat nog in de benen."
De eerste vier waren sterker. Ach, uiteindelijk mag ik best tevreden zijn met een overwinning en een vijfde plaats dit weekend!", zei Buytaert.

Jan Oeyen kan ook tevreden terugblikken op de eerste 3 dagen. "Gisteren ben ik enorm diep gegaan om vierde te worden. En vandaag was ik tot mijn verbazing nog sterker. Ik sta er versteld van."
"Ik heb weer wat bijgeleerd: Ik heb weinig kunnen trainen, maar toch word ik elke dag beter. Ik ben snel vertrokken, maar maakte kleine foutjes en moest gas terug nemen. Ik dacht dat het voorbij was, maar op het einde kwam ik er terug door. Ik ben dan ook erg tevreden met mijn podiumplaats." zei Oeyen.

Resultaten
Splits
Kaart (Jeremy Genar - H21E)
Kaart (Kurt Huber - H60)

Sylvester Day 2: Witte Bergen

The second day of the Sylvester 5 days took place today in Lichtaart (map Witte Bergen). This time, the terrain was the white open forest people expected. Fast running was essential to win this event, which was also a Belgian ranking event. But even the winner made a mistake in this tricky area.

The victory in men's elite race was for Frank Buytaert, he ran 8.3km in 47'24. At the end he was 10 seconds faster than Nick Barrable (2nd) and 30 seconds faster than Desmond Franssen (3rd). Jan Oeyen became 4th and Ingo Horst from Germany 5th.
Ken Peeters, the current leader, lost some time compared to his opponents Bart Delobel, Jan Oeyen and Nick Barrable, who are also aiming to win the sylvester 5-days.

In women's elite class, Kim Geypen won again. She was 1'32 faster than Masha Semak (Ukr). Dutch champion Sadie Zwikker became 3rd, closely followed by Saartje Sallaerts. Below you can see the map H21E.

Witte Bergen (click on the map to enlarge)

Results
Splits
Overall results
Map
Belgian ranking

Buytaert kroont zich wederom tot keizer van Herentals

Frank Buytaert, eerder al winnaar van WC-event 16 november te Bosbergen, heeft de tweede etappe van de sylvester 5 daagse gewonnen. Deze overwinning was voor Buytaert zijn eerste meerdaagse-etappe overwinning en Bel-ranking overwinning, maar voor trol ook meteen de tweede clubzege op rij.

Baanlegger Alex Coursier kon niet buiten de beperkingen van de kaart. Loopstukken op de weg zijn op de steeds groener(dorens) wordende Witte Bergen onvermijdelijk. Maar daarnaast benutte hij optimaal de meer technische zones.

Frank Buytaert legde de 8,3 km in de kortste tijd af (47'24). Tweede plaats ging naar de Brit Nick Barrable (op 10 seconden) gevolgd door Desmond Franssen (op 30 seconden van de nieuwe Trol-vedette). Borascaan Jan Oeyen viel net naast het podium, gevolgd door de Duitser Ingo Horst.

(Klik op de kaart voor een grotere versie)

Winnaar Buytaert was tevreden over zijn wedstrijd.
"Technisch goed gelopen, afgezien van één foutje van 30 seconden. Ik liet me hier wat mee uit de richting trekken door een reeksgenoot. Ook fysiek voelde ik me terug sterk. De vorm zit goed, ondanks de mindere WC-event vorige week in de Sahara" aldus F. Buytaert. Mogelijk doet Buytaert dit nummer morgen over te Sledderlo. Een kaart die hem eveneens op het lijf is geschreven.

Desmond Franssen (3e): "Op de helling struikelde ik figuurlijk en was de overwinning weg. Ik denk wel dat ik even sterk als Buytaert was, dan is derde worden niet plezant. Ik zette in 2008 een grote stap voorwaarts, maar ik had hier toch liever gewonnen. Dinsdag voor de zege strijden wordt moeilijker, denk ik."

Talloen (6e) maakte vrijdag in Nederland een belabberde indruk en gaf op.
Een dag later is hij nog niet helemaal hersteld, maar hij startte toch. "Ik voel me al iets beter en heb gebak kunnen eten, maar wonderen bestaan niet." Dinsdag start Talloen ook in de de WRE in Schrikkelberg."Als 1785e in de world-ranking heb ik niet veel punten (exact 0 punten, nvdr.) te verdedigen, maar het wordt aanklampen en afzien. Ik hoop dat ik goed slaap", zegt Talloen.

Genar nam vandaag een rustdag.
"Ik besliste vooraf dat ik er vandaag een training van ging maken. Het enige wat voor mij echt telt is de 5e dag, namelijk de WRE. Dinsdag klop ik al de concurrenten" aldus een zelfverzekerde Genar met zijn gesponsorde favoriete sportdrankje in de hand.

Resultaten
Splittijden
Totaal resultaat
Kaart
Belgische ranglijst

Sylvester Day 1: Oostelbeersche heide

The first day of the Sylvester 5 days took place today near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The terrain was not the white open forest people expected. Instead, the course setting gave the race Clermont-Ferrand-like allures at times, with small contour features in the green parts of the forest.

Looking at the results, it's quite clear that some of the favourites made big mistakes today. Thomas van der Kleij (***, 14th ) had the excuse of being ill, gastroenteritis (more commonly known as stomach flu). His opponent, Jan Oeyen (*, 6th), commented that today's race was not a good companion to his carefully learned Flemish orienteering instincts. To be able to even have a remote chance of understanding the map in some areas, you had to come to a halt and stare at the paper for seconds. Was the printing quality the culprit, or was it the map scale that should have been reduced to 1:7500? We don't know, but this vision was shared among most orienteers we've talked to. Bart Delobel (***, 16th) also had an off-day, just like Daniel Zwiker (*, 10th), who barely made the top ten today.

Some of the other favourites performed better: Tom Herremans (**, 3rd) was faster than all his younger hamok teammates, but still made quite a few mistakes. Your correspondent (-, 4th) started off fast and took the lead early on, but could not avoid making mistakes later on. The impact of one ice cream too many yesterday was quite noticeable on my running speed, which was not up to par with the one of the eventual winner Ken Peeters (**, 1st). Peeters' race was not that great either, with more than 5 minutes of mistakes, but still good enough to win the race by 1:17 to his teammate Jeremy Genar (*, 2nd).

In the women's class, we saw a clear victory by Kim Geypen (-, 1st). She was 3 minutes faster than Finnish runner Sabrina Merihein (**, 2nd). Geypen made a few mistakes, but was nonetheless satisfied with her result. Katja Stöckli (*, 3rd) completed the winners rostrum, exactly 7 minutes behind Geypen, who will only run 3 days.

The other favourites are already rather far behind: Sadie Zwikker (**, 4th) is still in the running for a top result, but Saartje Sallaerts (**, 8th) lost some time, just like Els Talloen (*, 6th) and Kim Steegen (*, 7th).

Three-star runners Barrable (***,-) and Semak (***, -), the winners of last year, were absent today. We hope to see them in the starting box tomorrow.

• Results
• Splits
• Map

Preview: Belgian Sylvester 5-days

In two days the sylvester 5-days in Belgium will take place. The winners of this competition will be physically strong athletes for sure. In this flat area it's possible to run very fast (even 5min/km in men's elite class). But this edition you'll also need some technical orienteering skills to gain the victory. Specially the first day, which takes place in the Netherlands, will be technically demanding.

During the 5-days, this website will focus on the elite classes. It's possible to read reports, check results and view the maps every day. Today we'll write about the likely candidates to win the overall ranking. The overall result will be made using the Scottish system with the 4 best results. In order to be included in the overall result, the competitor must be pre-registered for at least 4 days.

The stars of the men's field are expected to be the Belgians Thomas van der Kleij and Bart Delobel, who collected some medals at the national championships, including a gold one for van der Kleij at the long distance. The highest-regarded foreign runner is Nick Barrable, who won this event in 2007.
The undisputed women's star is Masha Semak of Ukraine, who won the sylvester 5-days in 2007. She also performed strong at the Danish champs middle distance 2008. Saartje Sallaerts of Belgium and Sadie Zwiker of the Netherlands are other top competitors in the women's field. The main Finlands hopeful is Sabrina Merihein.

Nick Barrable

Men stars:

3 stars - ***
- Thomas van der Kleij: results at the Belgian championships 2008: 5th in middle, 2nd in relay, 2nd in sprint and 1st in long distance. He's 4th at the Belgian ranking at this moment.
- Nick Barrable: he won the sylvester 5-days last year with 2 day-victories. He finished 2nd at the Istanbul 5-days a few months ago. His world ranking position is: 181.
- Bart Delobel: last year he won the WRE at the sylvester 5-days. He was present (qualified) at EOC and WOC 2008. 5th spot at the Bel-ranking. Very busy with his job last months.

2 stars - **
- Sergey Fedatsenka: he was present at JWOC and performed strong at several Belgian 3-days competitions in 2008. Last month he changed club (from Amor to Trol Belgium).
- Ken Peeters: 9th place at the Bel-ranking. He's training hard at the moment and ready to perform strong at this 5-days competition (his first goal before a medical surgery in january).
- Tom Herremans: A-final at WOC 2001 in Finland. This Belgian legend lives in Italy at the moment and is training for tiomila (rumours). Last month he reached the PWT A-finals.

1 star - *
- Daniel Zwiker: 44th at the last Suisse-ranking (2nd part of 2008 season). He beat all of his Belgian opponents at O-ringen 2008 (H21long). Also his weight is perfect at the moment.
- Jeremy Genar: the main Trol's hopeful is training hard at this moment. His goal is to shine at JWOC 2009 and 2010.
- Jan Oeyen: last year he won the first stage at the sylvester 5-days and he's the current number 10 at the Belgian ranking.
- Jeroen van der Kleij: he showed his good shape at some military events last month. But last week he became sick. He's 11th at the Belgian ranking.
- Dries van der Kleij: silver medal winner at the national championships relay. He was in good shape at the end of the season, but he didn't start his wintertraining yet. Ranked 13th.

Masha Semak (photo: http://www.worldofo.com/)

Women stars:

3 stars - ***
- Masha Semak: winner from the sylvester 5-days 2007. She got also got a bronze medal at the Danish champs middle distance. World ranking position: 107.

2 stars - **
- Saartje Sallaerts: she gained a bronze medal at the Belgian national champs middle distance. She's 7th at the Belgian ranking.
- Sadie Zwikker: from the Netherlands. She won the national championship long distance (results) and also the middle distance (results).
- Sabrina Merihein: the Finnish girl won the Sylvester 5-days in D18 last year. So she's still a junior and running for the same club than Jeremy Genar and Jörgen Wickholm).

1 star - *
- Els Talloen: won the national championships relay with her club Omega. She started preparing next season with her new coach 3 weeks ago.
- Kim Steegen: 13th at the Belgian ranking. She's probably in good shape, because she is the leader in the winter-criterium.
- Katja Stöckli: elite runner in Suisse. You can check her training log here.

Ofcourse some other strong Belgian runners will be present at the startline, specially at the WRE. But they don't run 4 days or more. Maybe we'll still publish a preview from the world ranking event.

Startlist
Event website

National team Belgium: results physical testrun

Physical testrun:
Last saturday (13/12) the Belgian national team ran the physical testrun for the first time this season. It was not really a test, it was rather an introduction to the track. The male athletes had to run six rounds of around two kilometers (each round 30m uphill) and the female orienteers five rounds. Most of the runners took it easy and ran a few fast laps. The results are visible below.
The real test will take place on 07/03/2009. The time-limit will be 45 minutes for both men (12km) and women (10km). For your information: the Belgian night championships will take place one week later (14/03), so not on the same date than the physical testrun like announced in the past.

Results physical testrun (click on the photo to enlarge)

Attackpoint:
Some Belgian orienteers started using the website attackpoint.org with online trainingschemes. It can be a motivation to read about trainings from other runners (specially during winter). Below some weblinks:

Training log Fabien Pasquasy
Training log Michel Bastin
Training log Desmond Franssen
Training log Ken Peeters
Training log Joost Talloen
Training log Jan Delobel

Military race Zwarte Weg:
On wednesday a military orienteering competition took place in a nice technical area in Flanders. Class 1 was the 'Inter smaldeel competition', specially for the military. Benjamin Anciaux gained the victory in this class. Guy Tirez took the victory in class 2. The map of race 3 (part1 and part2), results and splits are visible below:

Results
Splits

Map 'Zwarte weg': part 1

Map Zwarte weg: part 2

European cross country champs in Brussels

Today the European cross country championships in Brussels took place. The Finnish orienteer Marten Boström also participated at this event. He ran a strong race and finished in 27th position. His result: 31'59 (10km).

Marten Boström at WOC2007 (photo: www.worldofo.com)

In mens class Sergey Lebid (Ukr) took the victory in 30'49. He was faster than Mo Farah (GBR) and Mustafa Mohamed (SWE).

Results Men
All results
Event website
Video report from the race

Hechtelse Duinen: map + results

Today a military orienteering event took place in Flanders. Jeroen van der Kleij won easily, he was nearly 5 minutes faster than Jan Oeyen (2nd) and Desmond Franssen (3rd). Some other strong military athletes ran race 3, because of an intern competition.

Map Hechtelse Duinen: GPS tracking Jeroen vdK

Results
Splits
Map part1
Map part2

Cross country:
Last week the national military championship cross country took place. Also some orienteers were present at this competition. For example in mens class: Bart Delobel (20th), Ben Gielen (47th), Benjamin Anciaux (49th), Paul Goossens(77th), Guy Tirez(162th), Vladimir Geldof (552th),... In womens class: Christa Bloemen (12th).

Results Men
Results Women

Sylvester Belgian 5-days: 3 days to register

The Sylvester 5 days is a nice orienteering competition organised every year between Christmas and New Year in the northern part of Belgium. It is an organization from different Flemish clubs together with 1 Dutch club. The 5th day will be the last world ranking event in 2008 (on a new map).

With the Scandinavians training in the snow, there will probably be no snow for this event. Some years we have had a little bit snow, but never enough to keep the runners out of the forest! You can’t expect extremely technical maps in an area like Flanders, but the high running speeds combined with a lot of paths, little relief and open areas will still be a challenge. The sylvester2008 will include more tricky maps compared with the past editions (map samples).

Day 4: Klein Schietveld Part1 (route choices: Jan Gilot at the Belgian champ long distance 2007 - Part2)

The races will be fast definitely, with the elites probably running under 5min/km some days, so it's for sure a good speed-training! Last year's M21elite field was made up of 48 runners (won by Nick Barrable). Up to now more than 40 foreign athletes registered for the sylvester 5-days (List of foreign runners). But ofcourse most of the participants at the Sylvester are Belgian athletes. We saw on the clubwesites some strong (national team) runners who will fight for the victory this edition. But we will still write a more detailed preview (about the favourits in H/D21elite) on this website when we have the final list with all the participants.

Sylvester 5days website
Reports, Results and Maps edition 2007: (preview - day1 - day2 - day3 - day4 - day5WRE)
Results 2006
More information about sylvester 5days and orienteering in Belgium