While cycling races are on for a 2months already triathlon organizers held their horses and waited, cancelled and are now slowly but surely back on track!

A nice racing weekend in Belgium this weekend!
Yesterday our young Dutch triathlete could race in Triathlon de l’Ourthe in the Ardennes already!

Today our other athletes could start in in the 1/4 and 1/3 triathlons in Viersel!
This morning the 1/4distance athletes took off in sunny conditions, of course this motivates a lot and also cycling can go safe along the canals.
In this 1/4 distance our 2 man in the front of the race Lesly and Kristof did a very progressive race in which Lesly puts down a stunning off bike run with a 3’32/km pace on the last 10K! This made him move up towards 24th place in the overall Classification. With a very big limitation in swimming the past months this is a very good sign. U can say he touched the water the last months, and that’s about it 🙂

Kristof followed very closely behind with his fastest off bike run ever and took 31st!
Yves (Masters 50+) and Roel followed a few minutes later!

In the 1/3 triathlon the athletes had a 1500m swim – 60K bike and 15K run along the canals in front of them. A fast race, totally flat and good to get in some fast racingkilometers and fast recovery afterwards!

Also in this race we had 2Ironman athletes in the race, Fast Tony and Sam. For Sam his first in Belgium…in years and a short in-between race with the eyes on Ironman Portugal in Fall.

Tony, last year’s number 21overall in Ironman Zürich and in preparation for Ironlakes, Belgium’s only full distance triathlon. This year with a pro field at the starting line. A good swim, and +/-320NP bike split made him move up towards a place aroudn 20th position. But as I wrote above…our athletes are known as winners, and triathlons are always (!) won on the run! Tony puts down the 11th running time and takes 15th overall! The man is ready…almost! One of those athletes always on top when raceday is there, not racing a lot but training smart and racing the same way. Also the athlete in which I recognize the most of that other Ironman Sam! Same height, same legs, same training perfection, performance, and not a coincidence today…the same bikesplit and racing in front.

Sam finishing just behind Tony as 23rd overall, after a comeback race after the swim he could put the bike down in the racks after 1h58′ and went looking for the win in the masters race. In which he succeeded perfectly. This race was a short break in training prep towards the first Ironman of 2020 for Sam in November.

A bit further in the field Jurgen and Georg prooved the progress they are making year by year and today they do another very good race in Viersel!

Our oldest master in the race, Raymond (AG50+), managed to do a very good race in conditions he doesn’t like (rain/cold). With memories to hypothermia in Alsdorf 2019 he kept himself warm and did a very consistent race today, a fast race! 7th place in his AG as a result!

Last but not least our female athletes kept the head up during the rainfall and managed doing very good races.
Liesbeth had a tough run but steady and takes 5th (AG40), while Cai was performing in her first Belgian triathlon since we met and takes 4th (AG50), ready for the last 10weeks towards Ironman Portugal!

Onwards to the next races now!
To begin with next week!

Ciao
Jesse