Preview: 3 days of Belgium 2012

Next weekend the biggest multiday event in Belgium will take place in Wéris. The 3 days of Belgium will be again a traditional concept. No mass start, chase start or other attractive formats, but just 3 individual races. The competition will start and end with a long distance race. The 2nd stage will be a middle distance race.

The first stage (on saturday) will be a world ranking event on the map: Poudingue de Wéris. The race will measure 12.74km with 450m climbing for H21E. The terrain will be tough and steep. The map was also used for the Belgian middle distance champs in 2007, won by Fabien Pasquasy (results). 5 years ago Pasquasy ran an outstanding race and was even 4 minutes faster than his opponents. Also this year, he'll be the big favourit for the victory. Last weekend he ran the worldcup races in Suisse and also at this moment he's still competing there. Yesterday he ran a middle distance testrace (results) in relevant woc-terrain and today he participated (but didn't finish) in the long distance race (results).

Also his biggest opponent is in Suisse at the moment. Yannick Michiels became only 79th in the middle distance worldcup race (results) last saturday. But on sunday he showed that he's really in good shape by winning a national sprint race (results). Today he also started in the long distance testrace, together with Pasquasy. Both Belgian athletes were not classified in the results today. Probably Michiels won't run the last stage at the Belgian 3-days, because on tuesday 03/07 he already has to run the long distance race at the world university orienteering champs in Alicante (website wuoc).

If we take a closer look at the startlist for the WRE in Wéris, we can also expect Sergey Fedatsenka to fight for the victory. The Trol-runner got selected for WOC (sprint distance) and is trying to find his best shape right now. At jukola he got a bit injured, but he'll get ready for the important 3-days of Belgium.

Ken Peeters and Joost Talloen @ jukola

As outsiders for the 1st stage, we also have high expectations about Belgian woc-runner Tomas Hendrickx (recently only competing in streetraces), Thomas van der Kleij (best Belgian runner on the 1st leg at jukola and getting in better shape after his injury), Ken Peeters (always performing strong in long distance races in tough terrain) and Joost Talloen. Talloen competed last weekend in tough and technical terrain in Norway (results O-festivalen) as preparation for this 3-days event.

In D21E we only see 5 participants, but still it's a high quality class. All 3 girls who will compete at WOC will be present at the 3-days of Belgium: Miek Fabre, Greet Oeyen and Kim Geypen. Also Aline Hermans and Fanny Tilkin are among the best female runners in Belgium. We are curious who will win the WRE on saturday (9.4km with 310m climbing).

Website 3-days of Belgium
Startlist 3days