Omega wins Belgian Clubs Relay

It's relay week in Belgium. Today's Clubs Relay was the first one. On Friday there's the biggest relay in Belgium, the military Rik Thys and on Sunday the Belgian Relay championships take place in Brussels. In the Clubs Relay teams of 6 with various age constraints compete against each other. The Klein Schietveld map, last used for the Belgian Long Distance champs in 2007 was ideally suited for this event. Up to 3 spectator controls per course meant excitement all along.

With new National Team coach Dirk Goossens as course setter the courses were nicely balanced with tough running in any open area and detailed controls in rough woods in between. With 6 runners, 2 short, 2 medium and 2 'long' legs tactical choices could be made. Trol for example chose to have their elite runner Desmond Franssen run the first leg. He could make a gap already to the other teams. Despite losing 4 minutes in the loop after the second spectator control he had a gap of almost 4 minutes to Marc Willems (Omega 1) and Dirk Deijgers (Hamok 2).

Franssen on the run-in.

On the second leg, the first long one, it was hamok 2 that took the lead. Benjamin Anciaux managed to get away from his rival in the military championship Tomy Janssens. They even passed Wiet Laenen of Trol when he lost many minutes after having forgot a control. It was now Arno Keuppens of Omega 6 who was in third spot, with Wim Vervoort of Trol 2 finishing fourth.

The first short leg all top spots changed again. Elke Verdeyen performed strong and took the first position, a position Omega 1 would stay in the remainder of the race. Anna Serrallonga of Spain, but running for Trol 1 stormed into second position, launching her team again for a top position. On third place, a new team arrived, Asub 1 with Gaël Poulain arrived right before hamok 1 with Nancy Wenderickx.

Trol had another top runner on the 5K leg, with Winston Franssen performing strong. He could not catch up with Omega though. Evert Leeuws managed to launch his team with a comfortable lead into the two last legs. Luc Melis of hamok 1 and Clément Demeuse (CO Liège) arrived almost together in third place, with several Asub teams and Ardoc not far behind. The third medal would be a tough one to win, that was clear to the cheering crowd!

The youngest runners started on the 5th leg for Trol and Hamok. Claudia Rooman and Victor Mellebeek kept their position with quality races. Omega with Els Put did the same almost 15 minutes ahead now. With Jan Oeyen now starting it was pretty clear that they were going to win. Oeyen is now training with the Athletics club in Hasselt and says his excellent shape of this September season is largely a result of this. While the first place was secure, the second spot wasn't. Frank Buytaert, 2nd place in last weeks national event in HE, started almost 5 minutes ahead of hamok 1. Inside hamok relay team places are tough to decide in HE. Every show of form is necessary. By the second spectator control Buytaerts lead had shrunk to barely one minute. By the third specator control your reporter had caught up with him and in the last short loop it was soon clear that hamok took the second position ahead of Trol.

Omega 1 (more and less)

Results

Map course 6

Map course 1 with routechoices D. Franssen

Looking forward to Friday, only Trol announced a top team with D. Franssen, W. Franssen and Wiet Laenen. Hamok has the advantage of the experience with Luc Melis, Bart Mellebeek and Dirk Deijgers. Among the military teams 10 W TAC is the clear favorite, Gert Claes, Pol Goossens and Benjamin Anciaux will be tough to beat. Organizer and former National Team coach Patrick Wallaert said the event will be big, with Parachute jump demonstrations, TV controls and helicopters overhead.

It's only on Sunday that the real medals will be fought for. KOL (Hendrickx x2, Michiels) is ready to defend their title. Pieter Hendrickx checked all controls today so had a good training, Michiels won the last stage of PWT in China. They are for sure the big favourites. Their competition is determined to not let them get away with an easy victory though. Trol misses Sergey Fedatsenka, but Peeters-Van Baelen-Franssen is still strong enough to fight for the medals. Thomas van der Kleij ran impressive in the day entry courses today, winning each and every split in the longest race, with a km-time not beaten by anyone from another club. Tristan Bloemen has been strong all summer long. It's his first time in team 1 but he has proven in EYOC and JWOC that he has the nerves to run well under pressure. Asub and Omega are also strong contenders for a podium spot. Ardoc misses Michel Bastin who's running the Belgian Trail Running champs the day before.