VK nacht, University Champs and other running news

Zoals eerder vermeld, was het Valentijns weekend een druk weekend, VK nacht op vrijdag en Forest Cup met Belgisch universitair kampioenshap op zondag.

Het VK nacht is het eerste VK van het jaar en tevens ook de eerste wedstrijd van het delaatstepostklassement (DLPK). Zowel bij de mannen, als bij de vrouwen zagen we de verwachte namen op het podium. Bij de vrouwen was het een onewomanshow van Greet Oeyen, die van start tot finish op kop liep en uiteindelijk 2'05" voor Miek Fabré eindigde. Gaëlle Fronhoffs vervolledigde het podium maar finishte op meer dan zes minuten.

Bij de mannen won Yannick Michiels, die donderdagavond nog een snelle 5km liep in Ierland. Evert Leeuws werd 2de, op net iets minder dan 2 minuten. Op plaats 3 was toch een kleine verassing, junior Mats de Smul toont dat hij al in vorm is met een bronzen medaille. Resultaten

Het bos was vrij groen maar een tof maar uitdagend parcours zorgde voor wat foutjes hier en daar.

Voor het DLPK, is het klassement uiteraard in dezelfde volgorde als het VK, hieronder is de top 5 bij mannen en vrouwen te vinden. Volgend weekend is het al tijd voor het eerste monument met BK nacht op zaterdag en een klassieker op zondag.

Vrouwen:

Plaats	Vrouwen	Punten
1	Greet Oeyen	75
2	Miek Fabré	60
3	Gaëlle Fronhoffs	45
4	Joke Zoons	35
5	Kato Keuppens	25

Mannen:

Plaats	Mannen	Punten
1	Yannick Michiels	75
2	Evert Leeuws	60
3	Mats de Smul	45
4	Liam Thiels	35
5	Desmond Franssen	25

On Sunday, the Belgian university students were rewarded with a small layer of snow for the Belgian University Championship which took place near Leopoldsburg. As previewed, the win in both the men's and women's category went to KU Leuven. Julia Krekels won in the women category with a lead of almost 9 minutes ahead of Gaëlle Fronhoffs, Laurence Defraigne finishing just behind them in third place. The other KU Leuven women were not far off the podium, but J. Krekels showed here great physique and technical capabilities.

Official results women

On the men's side, Simon Krekels fulfilled his role as favorite. Jorn Kennis was only a minute behind. Victor Mullens was caught with a 2-minute gap by Kennis and could benefit for some controls to complete the podium. It is his first race after injury so he got some valuable feedback from this race. Louis Bourgeois finished just 11" behind Mullens so that's a real chocolate medal. 

Official results men

A summary of the race in my point of view: fast terrain were timelosses only came from small misses. J. Krekels showed her dominance in the women category finishing with a big lead. Both Mullens and Bourgeois had the speed but made mistakes early in the course when orienteering alone, allowing Kennis to catch them. Kennis and S. Krekels had the speed and the technical capibilities, they made simular mistakes but a bigger mistake for Kennis towards 15 and a few seconds on every control due to the faster pace of S. Krekels decided the podium. Results

Podium Women & Men

Furthermore, on Saturday the third opportunity took place to take the Belgian physical test, which is mandatory for athletes who want to participate in the test competitions for international championships.

In Wallonie, the Championnet FRSO long took place. We didn't saw any runners in the women category. François Van Der Ouderaa took a comfortable win in the men category. Results

Last Thursday we saw the 3 fastest men who can run with a map in Belgium, race a 5km on the road in Armagh, Ireland. Yannick Michiels ran 14'05", Wouter Hus ran a PB of 15'00" and Warre De Cuyper had a bad preperation due to injury but still managed to run 15'33". Armagh is a yearly fast 5km event in the begin of February. This year, the winner ran a course record of 13'33", 22 runners ran sub 14' and 155 runners ran sub 15'. For the women, it is a 3k race. Results

Other running news took place in Diest, where Mathis Brouwier took a 2th place on the crosscup among the fastest junior runners in Belgium. M. Brouwier finished 6th in the overall Crosscup classement. His younger brother Victor Brouwier finished 9th in his category and secured a 10th spot overall. Both of them already completed the physical test 2 months ago and are aiming for the major orienteering competitions this year.

On the warmer side of Europe, the Maximus O Meeting started in Spain with a long distance on Saterday and a middle distance on Sunday. Last week, some of the Flemish seniors and juniors went on a trainingcamp in that area. The Belgians Rune de Clercq, Corneel Casier, Lucie Arno, Marine Sillien and Hannah Thiels have been running the races this weekend. De Clercq also proved his good form by finishing 3th on Saterday and 5th on Sunday. Map Long ME

Next week, the first big orienteering weekend of 2025 will take place. The Belgian night championship will take place on Saterday and another national middle competition will take place on Sunday. The startlist for Saterday is looking great with some good runners! Sunday is yet another change to take some easy points for the DLPK as the startlist isn't extensive.

See you next week!