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