With the great results of our Gauls at the first three national competitions, both our men’s and women’s team successfully qualified for the promotion competition which took place in Barendrecht last Sunday. Twenty-two Gauls travelled to Barendrecht to represent Asterix. With 28 events that needed to be filled (women’s and men’s combined), this was quite the task.
Bente, our competition secretary, with some help from trainer Rik and experienced all-knowing Gaul Oscar, managed to make some competitive teams. Unfortunately some athletes are suffering from either injury or illness. Lets hope they recover soon!
Most of our athletes competed in the events they specialize in. Merel Bosch and Oscar did the throwing events and Casper and Finn got a bit dizzy by making left turns for 5 kilometers. We also saw some noteworthy things. Where nobody wanted to do steeplechase, Stijn came to the rescue. He managed to get 3 points for the team in an event he normally never does! Great job. Maaike, who specializes in the 400m flat, ran the same distance but then with 10 barriers in her way. She stayed on her feet and had a good finish. Amazing to see Maaike can do it all and that she keeps fighting to the end. An inspiring performance!
The 400m hurdles is a very difficult event, especially during the final 150 meters. As lactate levels are sharply rising, you need to keep running at a high speed whilst negotiating 91.4 centimeter hurdles. Sometimes you end up hitting the barrier, and when this happens with your trail leg this can easily cause the athlete that was on his feet a short moment ago to fall to the track. This unfortunately happened to Jim and was painful to see. However, he got up quickly and ran to the finish. He still managed to get 5 points, wow! Hopefully his fall won’t have any consequences.
Now it sounds like Jim did nothing wrong. But hold up. Had the sucker gone to the optician a bit earlier, the guy would have stayed on his legs and gotten us 8 points or something. At least Jim gave us a great laugh, so he was still good for something yesterday. (Bashing was requested and should not be taken seriously)
Our beloved treasurer, Boudewijn, suffered a hamstring injury during long jump. Immediately the search for a new long jumper began and was quickly completed: Jelle was going to do it. The two points he gathered turned out to be just enough to ensure that the men’s team finished sixth instead of seventh. The willingness to do an event without preparation for your association deserves tons of praise. Thank you Jelle!
Enough about the men. We all know it’s the women that run this association. And run they did. Britt, did the 100m, Merel the 100m and 200m and Lianne ran the 400m. Lianne also competed in the pole vault, where she jumped 2.50m. She’s getting close to her own club record of 2.70m. Will we see her break it upcoming year? Bente took care of the jumping. Over hurdles (18.25s), a high jump bar (1.50m) and in a sand pit (triple jump, 9.70m). What a versatile athlete! Rebecca did shot put, where she showed the strength our Gaulish women possess.
After what was a great day, we did not promote to the first division. Getting to the promotion game in the first place was already a big accomplishment however! A big thank you to everyone who helped out or competed this year. Special thanks to Bente and our trainers! To prevent monotony, lets just say: thank you for competing, helping out, training us et cetera. Wow, I’m terrible at this. Okay. I hope to see all of you again next year, keep up the good work!
All this text you had to read probably made you tired. Lucky for you, some great pictures were taken as well.
Ah, might as well jump (jump)
Might as well jump
Go ahead and jump (jump)
Go ahead and jump
