Flemish night relay 2013: video

The Belgian night season always starts with a night relay. Last friday this relay took place in Westerlo (map De Beeltjes). This edition only 18 teams showed up at the startline. Despite the small number of teams, we could experience a very exciting relay. 4 teams finished within 4 minutes with Trol1 (Franssen - Laenen - Vervoort) as winner. Omega (Oeyen - Thiels - Keupens) took the silver medal in a sprint ahead of Trol2 (Genar - Van Dyck - Serrallonga).

The first leg runners are ready to start (photo: Fred Simkens)

It looks like the night relay is getting less and less popular. In 2012 in Herentals 26 teams showed up (results 2012), in 2011 in De Kluis 19 teams (results 2011), in 2010 in Heidehuizen 26 teams (results 2010), in 2009 in Zilvermeer Mol 24 teams (results 2009) and in 2008 in Bosbergen Herentals 22 teams (results 2008). So 2013 was the smallest edition from the previous years. A pitty because night races are still a perfect opportunity to train and improve your orienteeringskills.

More words to describe the thrilling 2013 night relay aren't necessary, because you can experience the competition again in this video. Enjoy it.


Flemishnightrelay2013 from Desmond on Vimeo.

Results
Map (leg 1 - Desmond Franssen)
Video

GP Melis 2013: maps and results

Yesterday the 2nd edition from GP Melis took place. In 2012 Yannick Michiels (H21E) and Miek Fabré (D21E) were victorious. This year the concept was a bit different. The competition included 2 mass start races; a qualification followed by a final. In the qualification race the top-6 in H21E and the top-3 in other classes could win 30 seconds of bonus time. They started 30 seconds ahead of the others during the final mass start race.


Qualification race:
In class H21E we saw a very tight race in the qualifications. The leading group included 9 athletes and despite some forking they stayed together untill the 2nd last control. Among this group some strong Flemish runners were present: Benjamin Anciaux, Evert Leeuws, Desmond Franssen and Jeroen Hoekx. Also 5 international athletes were part of this group: Ivar Lundanes (top10 in Swedish and Norwegian champs 2012), Alexander Lubina (A-final at Woc 2013 sprint) , Jiri Bouchal (Czech national team ski-o), Conor Short (represented Ireland at Woc 2013) and Otso Seppala (rajamäen rykmentti).

Evert Leeuws and Benjamin Anciaux made the best impression during the race. They both were leading the pack half of the time. Small mistakes caused some position changes, but the group stayed together untill control 15. Here the forking caused some problems among the athletes (Jeroen Hoekx and Otso Seppala mispunched) and finally Benjamin Anciaux won the race. He finished just ahead of Ivar Lundanes and Jiri Bouchal. The 6th runner was only 8 seconds slower than Anciaux.

In womens class only 3 runners could qualify for the 30 seconds bonustime. Vendula Dolezalova won the close fight with Mira Scheir. Elisabeth Schutjes (3rd) was some seconds faster than Annelies Vermonden (4th) and Federica Maggioni (5th).

Mira Scheir (2nd in D21E) and Roger Hendrickx (1st in Hveterans)

Results men top-6:
1. Benjamin Anciaux 15.21
2. Ivar Lundanes 15.23
3. Jiri Bouchal 15.23
4. Evert Leeuws 15.25
5. Desmond Franssen 15.28
6. Alexander Lubina 15.29

Results women top-3:
1. Vendula Dolezalova 20.52
2. Mira Scheir 20.58
3. Elisabeth Schutjes 24.52

Map Qualification (H21 - Desmond Franssen)
Results Qualification
Splits Qualification


Final race:
In the final the courses weren't forked, but we saw different butterflies (loops). Another difference: also Thomas van der Kleij appeared at the startline without spending any energy during the morning. Together with Jeroen Hoekx, Conor Short and Otso Seppala he had to chase the 6 'rabbits'. These 6 rabbits were: Benjamin Anciaux, Ivar Lundanes, Jiri Bouchal, Evert Leeuws, Desmond Franssen, Alexander Lubina and Winston Franssen. Hoekx and van der Kleij pushed hard and had the leading group in sight (only 10sec behind in the middle of the race), but they never succeeded in closing the gap.

At the 10th control the leading group still included 5 athletes (Leeuws, Anciaux, Lundanes, Franssen and Bouchal). During the different loops Evert Leeuws succeeded to avoid mistakes and took the lead, 40 seconds ahead of the others. The youngster from Sibbo-Vargarna made a smalle mistake at control 19, but finally he was the surprising winner of GP Melis 2013. Jiri Bouchal took the silver medal and Ivar Lundanes became 3rd.

In womens class, again an exciting fight between Dolezalova and Scheir took place. Mira Scheir run in 1st position most of the race, but in the end Vendula again took the victory. Federica Maggioni took revenge for her average run in the morning and took the bronze medal today.

The podium in class H21E: Wouter Leeuws, Jiri Bouchal and Ivar Lundanes.

Results men top-6:
1. Evert Leeuws 20.18
2. Jiri Bouchal 20.41
3. Ivar Lundanes 20.48
4. Desmond Franssen 20.51
5. Benjamin Anciaux  21.07
6. Thomas van der Kleij 21.28

Results women top-3:
1. Vendula Dolezalova 27.19
2. Mira Scheir 27.23
3. Federica Maggioni 31.14

Map Finals (H21 - Desmond Franssen)
Results Finals
Splits Finals


Thank you:
To end this article, DLP still wants to thank the organisers for all the work and energy that they've spent in this event. To organise 2 mass start races requires extra effort. We don't have many competitions like this in Belgium and we want to support the few organisers. It's really appreciated!
The level from the competition was high and the participants had close fights with their direct opponents. This was for sure a good training for relay competitions, where you also get distracted by other runners and orienteeringskills at high speed are required.

Hopefully the next edition in 2015 will be even bigger and also some national team runners will be part of it. Although some of them had a good excuse to be absent (Woc trainingscamp in Venice). Anyway, all participants enjoyed it a lot and will still spent some hours and days in analyzing and talking about the exciting GP Melis 2013 event.

Federica Maggioni (3rd) at the finish line in the beautiful (castle)arena

GP Melis 2013: some photos

Yesterday the GP Melis took place in Mol (Belgium). Below you already can see some photos from this exciting mass start competition.

 The Melis family preparing the 2nd mass start

The 6 best runners from each category got 30sec advantage in the final race 

The chasing group tried to catch up with the leaders 

At the spectatorscontrol we see Benjamin Anciaux, Jiri Bouchal, Ivar Lundanes and Desmond Franssen. But they are all chasing youngster Evert Leeuws, who is some seconds ahead of them.

Winston Franssen and Conor Short at the spectatorscontrol. 

Evert Leeuws punching the last control and taking the victory, both in junior as elite class. 

Jiri Bouchal came from the other direction into the arena and took the 2nd spot. 

 

Vendula Dolezalova won the GP Melis 2013 in womens class.

The organiser discussing with the runners about the map and their routechoices.

D21E podium with Mira Scheir(2) - Vendula Dolezalova(1) - Federica Maggioni(3)

 H21E: Jiri Bouchal (2nd) - Evert Leeuws (1st) - Ivar Lundanes (3rd)

LIVE: GP Melis tracking at 9h50 and finals at 11h50

For the first time ever live gps tracking will be available in a Belgian orienteering competition. At 9h50 you can watch live the mass start qualification race from GP Melis. The runners will fight for a top5 ranking during the qualification. If the succeed finishing among the best 5 at the finishline, they get 30 seconds advantage in the finals.

Also the finals you can watch live. At 11h50 the 5 best will start and the others will start to chase them 30 seconds later (again mass start). So watch this exciting competition by the links below.

 



9h50: Qualification: watch live
11h50: Finals: watch live

List of participants
Website GP Melis

GP Melis - Mysterious Diseases strike top orienteers

Yesterday disaster struck as a mysterious virus hit the top orienteers who came to participate for tomorrow's event.
The first to show signs of sickness was our Norwegian guest who had to throw up. Then the others (Short, Seppalla, Kiila, Melis, Hoekx, Franssen, Anciaux and Van der Kleij) got dizzy as well. The symptoms were a lot worse in the morning when some suffered from dehydration, cramps, headaches, even from memory loss. Local authorities suspect the water drunk by the group was tainted.

Follow GPS-tracking GP Melis Live

Here is the link to the gps tracking for the gp melis. Map will be published when the race starts at 9:55.

Gps tracking link

Also people who want to be tracked should send me by email (toonmelis@hotmail.com) the tracker number and your full name. Link to the pdf that explains how to get the tracker number

Michael Van Baelen: suffering from mononucleosis

Sad news for the GP Melis, which will take place next sunday in Mol. One of the favourits for the victory, Michael Van Baelen, will be absent because he's sick. The GP Melis wasn't his biggest goal of the year, but still he was motivated to run a good race and try to win this event. Because of mononucleosis he'll have to rest instead of fighting for the victory in this famous mass start race.

Michael Van Baelen finished 3rd at WRE at Strumica Open

Michael Van Baelen was één van de revelaties in de Belgische orientatiewereld in het najaar van 2013. Samen met zijn trol-teamgenoten was hij gemotiveerd om een mooie prestatie neer te zetten op het BK aflossing te Sonnisheide. Hiervoor had hij zich goed voorbereid en stevig getraind. Dit leverde duidelijk resultaat op. Tijdens het BK lange afstand midden september eindigde hij al op een verrassende 5e plaats, op slechts 1min20 van een bronze medaille (resultaten BK lang 2013).

Een week later was hij de enigste atleet die in het spoor van een ijzersterke Jeroen Hoekx kon blijven. Het leverde hem een zilveren medaille op tijdens het VK lang (resultaten). Tijdens het BK aflossing (het uiteindelijke doel) kwam Michael Van Baelen opnieuw sterk voor de dag. Hij was de sterkste loper van de trolploeg en liep de 5e snelste tijd van alle deelnemers (resultaten).

Deze goede resultaten waren voor Van Baelen een motivatie om te blijven verder trainen. Twee weken geleden pakte hij een laatste keer uit tijdens de Strumica Open in Macedonië. Op een technische omloop, waar hij het beste tot zijn recht komt, eindigde hij op een 3e plaats tijdens de world ranking event. Hij liep slechts 5 minuten trager dan de Bulgaarse topper Kiril Nikolov. Bijna versloeg hij Daniel Barkasz (Roemenië) die tijdens de WOC in Finland nog goed was voor een A-finale op de middelafstand (resultaten wre Strumica open).

Voor het einde van 2013 had hij nog enkele kleine doelen gesteld (zoals GP Melis en VK nachtaflossing), maar zijn focus lag al op 2014. Nu zal de atleet uit Malle zich eerst moeten concentreren op het herstellen van klierkoorts. Het virus zat reeds enkele weken in zijn bloed (al tijdens de Strumica Open dus) en de oplossing zal vooral uit rusten bestaan. Delaatstepost wenst hem alvast een spoedig herstel toe.

Trainingslog Michael Van Baelen

Benjamin Anciaux takes victory in the Ploegenwedstrijd!

Benjamin Anciaux heeft het voor elkaar gekregen. Hij won de ploegenwedstrijd op "De Roeler". De wedstrijd was een combinatie van het vinden van de beste wegkeuze en snel over paden kunnen lopen. De onderbegroeing maakte het namelijk moeilijk om door te steken.

Wedstrijdverloop:

Het was Genar die de kopstart pakte op het lange been naar post 1. Genar hield de koppositie nog vast tot post 3 maar daarna moest hij zijn meerdere erkennen in Benjamin Anciaux, die de kop pakte en ze niet meer afstond. Jean-Baptiste Colomb probeerde nog maar beet uiteindelijk in het zand. Cristoph Bernard mocht uiteindelijk mee op het podium.

De Nieuwe leider in het Wintercriterium is nog onzeker maar het lijkt ons spannend te zijn tussen Adriaan Pelckmans, Jeremy Genar, Toon Melis en Jeroen Hoekx. De Uitslag:

     [H:]M:S min/km
1.  Benjamin ANCIAUX 57:58 5'54" 
2.  Jean-Baptiste COLOMB 59:25 6'03" +1:27
3.  Christophe BERNARD 59:54 6'06" +1:56
4.  Jeremy GENAR 1:00:09 6'08" +2:11
5.  Jeroen HOEKX 1:01:03 6'13" +3:05
6.  Wim VERVOORT 1:02:53 6'25" +4:55
7.  Toon MELIS 1:03:50 6'30" +5:52
8.  François HANZEN 1:04:47 6'36" +6:49
9.  Pierre-Emmanuel DEMEUSE 1:08:31 6'59" +10:33
10. Serge BAERT 1:11:35 7'18" +13:37

Bij de vrouwen won Vinciane Mulpas omloop 2 en Fedrica Mangionni omloop 3