Last Friday, there were some competitions in which some Gauls participated! In Tilburg and Utrecht, there were trackmeetings, while in Maastricht the Uros Teamrace took place!
The first of these competitions was a trackmeeting in Tilburg. Thijs, Adomas, Kjell and Lorens decided to run a 1000, while Jordi went for the 1500. For Thijs it was his first track race!
With the weather conditions far from ideal – very strong winds tend to slow you down – the runners prepared for their races.
Immediately after the start of the 1000, Lorens took the lead. After a solid solo time trial, he managed to win the race with a new PB of 2:41.26. His split at 800 was a full second faster than his season’s best of last season! Not far behind Lorens ran Adomas, who came in second with a time of 2:44.91. Adomas’ goal was a 2:45.00, talk about perfect pacing! Finishing in third was Kjell with a new PB of 2:55.48. This result looks promising for the rest of the season! Finishing sub 3 minutes in his first track race was Thijs with a time of 2:59.16. A great result for a runner who usually focusses on longer distances!
After the 1000, Jordi ran the 1500. Leading the entire race all by himself, and even lapping some athletes, he ran an impressive 4:18.24. The closest competitor finished almost 40 seconds behind him. Who knows what Jordi can run in a race with some more serious competition!
The other trackmeeting was in Utrecht, co-organized by our fellow friends from SAV Phoenix! Oscar, Andrii and Domingos went there to represent the Gauls.
Oscar participated in the shot put and hammer throw, his second competition of the week! He didn’t do as well as expected but still did very respectable marks, representing very well his Purple Pride.
Andrii went full beast mode and outpurpled himself in an incredible way in the 800. He was set to run in the fastest heat, with 12 incredibly fast men. He got out fast from the gun, put himself in the middle and after 600m kicked most people and ran his first ever sub 2min 800! Incredible for his first race of the season. A truly Gaulicious performance.
Domingos on the other hand, truly messed up everything. He was set to run in the 5th out of 10 heats in the 400m. Although in good shape and ready to run a PB, as he was the fastest of the heat in theory, he wasn’t used to the start system of the track. In this new modern start system there’s two clicks, and you have to go out on the second and Domingos, with his Monkey brain, sprinting out in the first click and got DQ for false starting. A shame!
Overall, it was great to see Gauls really pushing themselves, and was fun to see other SAV athletes also having fun. After it, a couple of beers in Utrecht were of course taken to loosen up!
UROS team race
The yearly 5k race organized by the SAV of Maastricht on the Sint Pietersberg was back. Every 5 minutes a team of 4 – 7 athletes starts a race against the clock, the time of the 4th athlete counts for the rankings. This year, 4 fast Gauls were at the start line. Casper, Matthijs, Lennert and Finn raced as Asterdix. They started fast and were in the lead for a long time, however on top of the Sint Pietersberg they had to take a break to enjoy the view. Despite the break, they still managed to get a 2nd place. After their hard work, they enjoyed a nice (vegetarian) BBQ where they promoted the Asterix trackmeeting. To finish up the day, the boys made a romantic walk through Maastricht with some ice cream.
Written by Lorens, Domingos and Finn.