National championship cross country for the military

So yesterday I stood at the start of the national championship cross country for the military. It was about to be a thrilling race with French, Dutch, German and Luxembourg teams, with some very good runners from the ranks of Defense. As every year the event is in Schaffen, such a beautiful location for this cross. With 950 men at the start is was a impressive spectacle once the starting shot was given. To avoid the crowd, I had a quick start, maybe too quick in retrospective. It didn’t take long to realize the course was incredibly challenging. Lots of wind and hill zone, where we had to take 2 steep hills, followed quick on another. I lost some places, tried to hold on and run out of the wind. But I noticed the condition wasn’t there. But it was fun to suffer for half an hour in some sun and with lots of company. The result wasn’t important, I became 13^th and 8^th Belgian.

Result
With some pictures by Alex Smeyers.