Caveman triathlon today! Strong field of athletes at the starting line for this 111 triathlon. For many athletes the season opener!

With especially in the AG40 and AG category some of our athletes keen on getting close to the podium!
Unfortunately 1week ago AG 50 athlete Raymond crashed and as his legs were still looking like a ‘sandwich martino’ DNS for him!
In GC both Tony and Hans could have ambitions for a top 10 result.
A pretty tough course also in this tritathlon, with the ‘slingerberg’ each cycling lap, but even a more demanding run course!

A good start for most of our athletes in this 1K swim with Wim VL first man out of the water in 16’39”! At that point leading the AG 40+!

Tony and Hans left the water close to eachother, Tony left T1 first, closely followed by Hans. Once ‘La Machine’ was seated on his Shiv he moved forward strongly and joined Tony.

Unfortunately for Tony he had a ‘chaindrop’ and bumped his knee hardly into his steering. Not a good thing to have in a very intense race format. So pain got him and his shifting device was problematic with sometimes kilometers on the small gear, chaindrops and sometimes able to put the chain back on. But he persisted despite these issues.
Very soon Hans closed down a 2′ gap with the guys riding for place 5-10.
A very consistent effort of Hans with 328NP at 50K and 324NP at 99K into the bikecourse. Despite that the riders on who he closed the gap had a stronger effort in their 2nd half. Or was there a tailwind? Perhaps in the eye of the tornado there’s a logical acceleration of objects? 🙂

Steady effort of Hans in Kanne with a 324NP at the end of the bike course. Passing halfway at 328NP. Steady to run off fast!

Behind those Hans, Tony and Wim VL our other athletes started to gear up. Steven DB, good swimmer, had a fearmoment during the start of the swim which all triathletes once have or had. On the bike he left this moment behind and took speed. Also Jurgen and Christophe were there, getting into top 10 in this AG40.

In the AG50 category it’s Bart who took place in top 10 very soon. His fellow Wim T chasing him down.
Also Bart T in his first race in Belgium, Christophe, Toon (back into the game!), Frederick, Thomas, Michael, Carles and Roel were keen on this bike effort. They settled their places to drop off their bike in T2.

Hans putting down his bike in T2 as the first of our athletes and ready to run towards a top10 today! With 8th place at the finishline and his first win in his new AG (H40) we can say…age is just a number 🙂 and he’s ready for a couple of race on more demanding terrain.

Tony, who thought of quitting the race with a severly swollen knee and annoying mechanicals on the bike.
Before the problems Tony was riding 300-320NP and HR 165BPM, once he bumped his knee the pain got into it. His cadence dropped, his NP dropped to 260 (small gearing) and HR dropped 15BPM. But as this is a B-race leading up to his Ironman and not so many racing opportunities this year…he persisted with a run below his capabilities…but still managing 22st in GC!

Not so far behind Tony Wim VL was our man to run off the bike very well and taking his first podium in his AG in his first triathlon in 2years! FInally he’s at it! Good and strong job!
With Steven DB and Jurgen also starting the run with the eyes on the AG Podium this category was well filled! Steven taking 5th, Jurgen taking 6th and Christophe taking 10th place today!

Bart DB was aiming for a top10 in his AG and he managed! But also lesson’s learned! Racing in humid and warm conditions needs another drinking protocol than racing in dry and colder conditions. It’s about how much you drink, but also what you are drinking before and during the race!
Wim T his eyes were definitely aimed on Bart, but he stayed out of sight at the finishline!

Bart T had a strong bike effort and suffered on the tough hilly run course in his first race here! But a strong endurance brings you home, always!
Toon finished his first race again in 3-4years and can look back at a strong road to today during the past year!
Also Christophe, Frederick, Michael, Carles and Thomas did a good job towards the finisling.
Satisfaction is at its place, looking forward now to our guys on the Ironman and 70.3 distance in Frysman (The Netherlands) and Chtriman (France)!

Next to our triathletes our cyclists prooved they started the season extremely well!
Almost all of our riders got into top 10 already this season and are riding very intense in front of the race!
Today Anthony (Deftinge – Elite3) was our man in the right breakaway of 4 that could race victory!
A late attempt in the last kilometer in which Anthony chased victory didn’t work out for the win, but with a good and strong race finishing 4th can mean a lot in the head of a rider! Great job again of Anthony!

In Meux (Masters) Svenne was keen on a new day of breaking away and suffering! He got himself into that dream scenario. With a 14man lead group it seemed tough to break away, at the end Svenne sprinted towards 7th place!

Next few days more cyclingraces and also the first Time Trial races are back to business!

ciao

Jesse