This year the NSK Track took place in Utrecht at the end of July. Despite the holidays, a large group of Gauls travelled to Utrecht to compete.
On the first day of the NSK, Oscar competed in the Discus Throw and Shot Put. At Discus, Oscar managed to get the 7th place and on Shot Put the 5th place. Merel also participated at discus throwing and managed to throw a distance of 24,64 meters. At the Shot Put for ladies, a lot of purple was present with Sophie, Merel and Annelies competing. Sophie threw 7,86 and became 16th, Merel threw 6,69 and become 20th followed by Annelies at the 21th with a throw of 5,99.
The sprinters came in action at the 100m, with Teun, Wing and Justine competing. Teun, competing on familiar terrority on a track he trained on many times ran to a new PB of 11,73. Wing ran the 100m in 12,98 and in the women’s 100m Justine became ran a 12,8 and by becoming second in her heat she qualified for the final of the 100m with a small ‘q’. In the final, Justine ran a 12,85 and she finished in 5th place.
The 400m also took place on the first day, with Wessel and Lianne representing the purple at this distance. Wessel and Lianna ran solid 400m’s and finished in 53,91 seconds and 68,22 seconds respectively.
At high jump, Boudewijn and Bente competed. Boudewijn jumped to a height of 1,70m with which he got 10th place. Bente jumped to a height of 1,50m and became 7th. Last to compete this day was Casper at the 1500m. As Casper said his legs did not feel great he was okay with a tactical race and he stayed behind the leaders until the final lap in which he unleashed his purple and ran to the gold medal! After this great medal it was time for a nice dinner, followed by a very difficult pubquiz.
On Sunday, another group of Gauls showed up to compete at the NSK Track as well, or for a second day in a row. The day started early for Sophie, but she showed she was awake by throwing a big PB at the hammer throw of 31,52m! At the triple jump, Britt and Bente competed jumping to 9,98 and 9,77 meters.
The 3000m was a race against the clock, not only as usual but also against a big rain storm coming. Eline ran in this tactical race, and fought to a time of 10:31 becoming 4th, just when the water started pouring down. At the 200m we had Justine, Merel and Teun competing. Merel competed in her first ever official race! Justine finished first in her heat comfortably, qualifying for the final. In the final, Justine gave everything to get a medal and ran a time of 25,61 which earned her a bronze medal! Teun, on his birthday ran his second PB of the weekend with a time of 23,77. At the 800m, Ramon represented the purple and ran to a time of 2:05. Three other Gauls wanted to run a bit more laps so decided to join the 5000m. Casper, doing a Sifan Hassan style tournament, was still hungry for a medal the day after his 1500m gold and ran with the front again. In the final laps he and the leader in the race separated themselves and he ran to a silver medal with a time of 15:08! Tom and Finn were working together to get a nice time and finished in 16:20 and 16:22. Meanwhile, at javeling throw Lianne and Bente threw 30,34 meters and 27,14 meters.
The day was finished with the 4×400 mixed relay, with exhausted Gauls Casper, Lianne, Finn and Justine spiking up for one more lap around the track. They finished in 5th place.
We look back at a successful NSK after three medals, a couple of PB’s and overall a very nice weekend organized by AV Phoenix!
