Friday – The weekend is just around the corner. A weekend of at least three matches in the Netherlands. This Saturday the winter triathlon in Groningen and the Nonspeet Duathlon, on Sunday the always strong duathlon in Reusel in Brabant, which is often dominated by the Belgians.
First to Nunspeet in the second race of the Veluwe bike running Maxi-Promo competition. I hear you thinking, the second? Have we read anything from the first then? correct. The small but well-organized circuit falls outside the large calendars (read: NTB). Unlike other years, we honestly had no idea that the competition in Harderwijk had actually started.
Now it’s true that Hardervik’s match for AV Athlos hasn’t been on the calendar for three years, so don’t take it into consideration. Fortunately, 66 Cross Do athletes did just that, so that competition returned on October 14 and the track could begin. With Nunspeet on the agenda for Saturday, we’ll take a look back at that match from three weeks ago.
Christian and Brewer’s first crossover duathlon
It was Yuri Cullen’s weekend in Mallorca, Lucy Charles Barkley’s weekend in Hawaii, and so on. But also from Johan Christen and Kira Brewer. They won the Harderwijk crossRBR and are therefore top in the world rankings. Arnhem TV’s Johan Christen wasn’t the first to arrive on his bike. These were fast athletes from regional athletics clubs. I made my favorite on the bike.
Christine took the lead, Knut Anneveld came off the bike in second place, but had to let Amersfoort’s Mark van der Peet pass in the second round. So Johan Kristen won with a time of 1.21.16, Van der Peet with a time of 2.24 minutes, and Anfield with a time of almost 3 minutes. Famous names such as Eric Platt, Frank Janssen and Geoffrey van Noortwijk followed.
Ameland’s Keira Brewer didn’t have much trouble with her opponents. More than five minutes later, Julia Bissellsen from Barneveld followed. She has surprisingly placed herself between two international athletes, with Willemijn Voigt ranked third. Karen Neutel and Elsie de Wendt completed the top five. The fastest duo was the VIS Interieur en Stijl team. Kira’s winning time was 1:28:34 hours.
PanAmerican Games for Rueda in Hidalgo
The Pan American Games were held in the Chilean capital of Santiago over the past two weeks. This is an unattainable spectacle for Europe, but for the American nations it is one of the biggest sporting events, taking place every four years. It was very cold during the matches, 12 degrees outside, 14 degrees in the water. Mexican women dominated the women’s race. The surprise win went to Lizeth Rueda Santos with a time of 1.57.07 hours. The silver went to Colombian Maria Carolina Velasquez Soto, and the bronze went to the strongest Mexican on paper, Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal. Each country was allowed to send two athletes. Canadian and American women have been left behind.
In the men’s race, Brazilian Miguel Hidalgo won. American Matthew McElroy finished second and Mexican Crisanto Grajales took third place.
Winter in Groningen
The rest of the weekend. Winter Triathlon Groningen today. Nearly 200 winter athletes will lace up their skis today. Among them are Martin Beauty, Martin Veenhausen and Guido Gosselinck, but we are undoubtedly ignoring the big names. The long distance starts on Saturday at 1.15pm. The quarter distance begins at 2pm, followed by the half and children’s distance. Walking and cycling in Carding Nature Reserve and skiing on the oval of Carding Sports Centre.
Crossduathlon Riocell
On Sunday, it was the turn of the Hermans Assurantien AVR’69 duathlon in Reusel. The club is holding this event for the twenty-second time. In most cases the Belgian wins. Three hundred athletes participate in the 14 km challenge. Cross range, 60 km. ATB and 7 km. Cross running. A good warm-up for those taking part in the Hel van Casterle in December.
Ironman Florida, not Noosa
The top races around the world this weekend are Ironman Florida in Panama City and the Australian season-opening race in Noosa.
In Florida, 2,000 athletes are eagerly awaiting the 25th anniversary of this competition. This makes him the tallest Ironman in North America. Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, biking along Pine Long State Forest (where former Tour racer Rene Wagtmans often stays these days) and marathons along Pier Park on the beach.
The prize money is $100,000. The best players will come to Florida for that. We mention Magnus Detlev, Rudi von Berg (note: in the deserved match with the French Ironman World Champion, we will remain isolated until the facts emerge), Denis Chevrot, Arthur Horso, Matt Hanson, Christian Hogenhaug, Andy Dritz, Cameron Wurf, Robin Zipontke. And under number 22, our Milan team started bronze. We haven’t raced in the US much, but we are looking forward to a nice race from Almerder/Gironan. The Belgians have Quentin de Vos. A total of 54 male and 34 female professionals. My favorites are: Skye Munch, Jane Annette. Jocelyn McAuley, Georgia Briarone, Lauren Brandon, and India Lee.
Then also mention Noosa. There were 4,000 junior athletes active throughout the weekend in OD and sprint races. Lottie Wilms is back home and is switching from Ironman Hawaii to shortstop. Ashleigh Gentle does the same and they have to deal with Amelia Wakinson, Sarah Crawley and many more. The men’s field is also impressive: Haydn Wilde, Henri Schumann, Jake Birtwistle and Matthew Hauser, among others.
All in all, there’s another great weekend of sport ahead.
