Miriam Van Reijen en Deborah Ghyseleen at Almere Duin 2017 (picture: Stefaan Devliegher)
Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of May will be a busy weekend at Almere Duin. Both Dutch and Belgian duathletes will compete for national titles on the long distance. Saturday will also host the EC Olympic Triathlon for Police and Sunday will host the Triple Mix at the Eredivisie Teamcompetition.
Almere Duin has proven to be an ideal race location over the past few years. Swim, bike and run can be done very close to each other and the windy course traditionally takes its toll. Last season the Dutch duathletes outshone the Belgians. Yennick Wolthuizen and Miriam Van Reijen took the Dutch titles. Seppe Odeyn and retiring Ilse Geldhof became Belgian Champion. The race harvested quite some criticism from the Belgian crowd, as our national championship was not hosted on our soil (due to the lack of long distance events), but the organisation at Almere Duin showed us that the combination offered a rich field and an exciting race where athletes from both countries came out stronger due to augmented competition. Registration for the NC/BC duathlon (10/60/10) are open, registration has to be done via the Start2Finish website. This year 3athlon.be will report the race and will speak alongside Dutch Arjan Schilder.
New on the schedule will be the EC Police on Saturday afternoon. Registration for the DUIN Triathlon & Duathlon weekend is on fire, that much that the Olympic distance race is nearly completion. Last year the race was won by local Omar Brons (1hr58'01), followed by other local Thomas Naasz (1hr59'22). In shining weather the podium was completed by Carlo can den Bergh (2hr03'49). The female podium was made by Ingrid boot (2hr20'44), Claudia Striekwold (2hr24'26) and Anneke de Groot (2hr29'49).
Triple Mix on Super Sunday
Sunday, May 27th promises to be all about the spectacle with the Triple Mix. Athletes from both the Eredivisie and the 1eDivisie will compete in an event that is hosted for the very first time in the Netherlands. Over supersprint distances, the athletes will complete three triathlons, each in another order. Fist off is the swim, bike, run. Second the run, bike, swim and lastly the bike, swim, run. 3e and 4eDivisie will open the day before the main event, a true Super Sunday. All information about the triathlons can be found on the Start2Finish website.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 11/04/2018
Translation by @T0v3