Belgian national team: physical testrun (4)

Today the national team athletes could participate at the physical testrun for the last time. Below you can see the final results.

In class H21 Pieter Hendrickx and Koen Wilssens succeeded to beat the time from Frank Buytaert. Both of them easily qualified for the selection races. The surprise (in a negative way) in this class is Francois van der Ouderaa. Last year he represented the national team at EOC in Portugal and at several World cup races. He even had a bronze medal at the Belgian long distance championships. This winter he had problems with his knee and finally he didn't pass the physical testrun. He'll be absent at the WOC selection races in Lake District (GBR). In D21 only 1 woman qualified for the selection races: Liesbeth van de Velde.

In junior class most participants succeeded to pass the test. Both Victor Mellebeek and Miel Deferme needed retakes, but luckily they were fast enough today. Eleonore Robinson (multiple Belgian champion in junior class) even needed 4 attempts and finally today she qualified for the JWOC selection races in France.

Tomorrow it's back to orienteering with the 1st long distance national race in Dilsenerbos. Next weekend the most technical race of the year will take place on friday: the Flemish night championships in Gruitrode. On sunday it's time for the 2nd long distance national race in Zonhoven.

Results D16 - D18 - D20 - D21

Results H16 - H18 - H20

Results H21

Video physical testrun: Pieter Hendrickx and Koen Wilssens

Video physical testrun (2): Miel Deferme and Victor Mellebeek

Belgian national team: physical testrun (3)

Next saturday the members of the Belgian national team will have the last opportunity to pass the physical testrun. Passing this physical testrun is an obligation if the athletes want to participate at JWOC or WOC selection races. 

Below you can see the current situation. The JWOC selection races will take place in Picardie (the north of France) in the end of March. The selections for WOC middle and long distance will take place at JK in Scotland (beginning of April). The selection races for WOC sprint will take place in the north of Belgium (a 3000m track test and 2 o-sprintraces).

Results: D16 - D18 - D20

Results D21 - H16 - H18

Results H20 - H21

The national team on trainingscamp in Portugal during POM 2015

3 days of Belgium 2015: preview

The 3-days of Belgium 2015 will take place in the first weekend of May around Vlessart. It's located in the south of Belgium, close to Arlon. The 2nd stage will be a WRE middle distance race.

Map sample for 3 days of Belgium 2015

Technical and physical challenging:
Once again (as last year) we can expect some interesting and technical demanding orienteering during the 3 days of Belgium. Physically it will be demanding because of the good runnability. The terrain is rather fast, so high speed running will be necessary to fight for the victory. Also the climbing/uphill meters during the race will make it more tough. Technically it will be challenging because of all the different vegetation details. You'll have to read the map carefully to avoid mistakes.

This is how the terrain will look like

Program:
The event includes 2 long distance races and 1 middle distance (WRE) on the 2nd day. The map for the middle distance race is totally new.

An old map from the area around Vlessart

High level:
With Miek Fabre, Greet Oeyen and Kim Geypen the best Belgian women will show up at the startline of this event. Last year Aline Hermans took the victory ahead of Fabre and Oeyen. We are curious if the same will happen in 2015.
In men's elite class we already see some members of the Belgian national team on the startlist. Probably more will follow the coming days. Last year Sergey Fedastenka won this event ahead of Tomas Hendrickx and Jeremy Genar.
The Latin Cup 2015 will also take place during this event. So we can expect some strong athletes from the Latin countries at the startline. The Latin Cup includes a sprint, middle and long distance race.

Registrations:
The next extry deadline is in 5 days. So if you want to register at a cheap entryfee, you'll have to hurry: register here.

Website 3 days of Belgium