With 2023 having just started, it is a good moment to look back at the first part of the cross country season. Asterix is part of the Kempian Cross Competition, which naturally means most Gauls end up participating in cross country races from the Kempian Cross Competition. This season, four races have already taken place.
Veldhoven
Let us start in Veldhoven with the Witvencross! In a rather surprising move to many, Ramon decided to participate in the long cross! When questioned about this, he said “I want to build a strong base for the 1500 and 5000 for next year.”
Great in theory, but after Veldhoven he knew he had some work to do. While he finished 14th, he was not very happy about his performance, stating that “Next time I will be 10th or 11th in a similar field of I don’t run as bad as today.”
Luckily for Ramon, he was not the only Gaul participating in the long cross! Casper ran it as well, and he finished in second place! Lennert and Luc also participated in the long cross, finishing in respectable 8th and 18th places!
On to the short cross! In the women’s race, Anne managed to secure a nice bronze medal! Finishing in 8th place was Lianne! Kudo’s to both for their performances!
In the men’s race, there were a lot of Gauls competing! After a powerful kick, Luc managed to beat Andrii and Matthijs for third place. Andrii finished with the same time in 4th place, while Matthijs finished only 2 seconds behind in 5th. After a gap of about 40 seconds, another group of Gauls crossed the line. Lorens was outkicked, finishing in 7th. He was not happy. According to Lennert, he should have taken more creatine.
Finishing in 8th and 9th were Kjell and Justin after a great race. Domingos finished in 11th, just beating a competitor by 1 second.
Sint-Oedenrode
In Sint-Oedenrode, classically a cross with a slightly weaker competitive field, many Gauls performed well, with some medals as a result.
In the long cross, Jens finished 4th after a great run. Ramon, after focusing on some guys that beat him last time, managed to move up to 12th place.
In the short cross for the men, Matthijs won by quite a large margin. He actually wanted to go to the Warandeloop in Tilburg, but he forgot that subscribing for a race is something you have to do before the deadline.
Finishing in 3rd was Lorens, this time beating the guy that outkicked him two weeks earlier by 19 seconds. Finishing in 4th was Justin. Not that far behind were Vincent and Domingos. Vincent managed to beat Domingos by 3 seconds. Unfortunately, they haven’t had a rematch since.
In the short cross for the women, Anne once again secured a 3rd place, just like in Veldhoven.
Reusel
The third cross of the Kempian Cross Competition was the one in Reusel. This time, there were way more Gauls participating than in Sint-Oedenrode.
In the long cross, Ramon performed very well, finishing in 13th. He managed to beat many of his competitors that beat him in Veldhoven and Sint-Oedenrode. Luc did great, and he finished in 20th place!
Then with the short cross for the men, it was quite the spectacle, already before the start.
Andrii was not able to get rid of Lorens, who managed to stay close because of the hilly parts of the course. In the end, Andrii won the race with a lead of 4 seconds over Lorens. Finishing 13 seconds behind Lorens in 3rd was Uko. For him, the hills and the sharp turns were something he needed to get used to, as it was his first cross country race in more than a year!
Finishing in 6th place was Justin, while Vincent and Maron finished in 7th and 9th place respectively.
In the race for the women, Anne managed to secure yet another third place, with a big lead over her closest competitors. Three third places in a row!
Oirschot
The cross in Oirschot took place on the second day of Christmas, and not that many Gauls participated as a result.
In the short cross, Anne managed to break with her tradition of finishing third. She managed to convincingly win the cross over 2120m.
With the men, Luc managed to finish third (only 15 seconds behind the winner). Lorens finished fourth, 18 seconds behind Luc. Not that far behind was Justin in 5th, and Michiel in 9th.
Honorable mentions
With the Kempian Crosses mentioned, we really shouldn’t forget some of the other results of our Gauls in the current season.
Domingos took the very first opportunity to run a cross: he went to the Snertcross in Tilburg, organized by our friends at TSAV Parcival. After Domingos’ amazing victory in the Road Mile, he went back for more. Unfortunately for him, this time he was outkicked by a very talented kid. Many memes were made.
The first cross of the LimBra circuit was the Ijzerenmancross in Weert. Both Casper and Andrii won their races, the long and short crosses. Hannah got 8th in her race: the short cross for the women.
Winning is very addicting, and so Casper and Andrii also went to the second LimBra cross: the Molenvencross in Helmond. This time, Casper decided to join the short cross, and he won it! In the same race, Andrii finished third. With the women, Hannah won a nice bronze medal. Both Meike’s participated here as well: Meike Rijsdijk got 4th, and Meike Vermeulen got 6th. In the long cross, Adomas finished in a very respectable 5th place.
What to look forward to?
With all these competitions already over, we are of course looking forward to the crosses of the second half of the winter season!
The next cross of the Kempian Cross Competition will be the Dieprijtcross in Eersel on January 15th. Many Gauls will participate there, especially in the short cross.
Then, the one and only NSK Cross! This winter it will be organized by Asterix together with the Paarse Boscross in Waalre. Don’t forget to put Saturday the 25th of February in your agendas!
Written by Lorens