Rijen, March 1, 2008

This is the right wing of the 1995 women, that have shown up with the 33 of them.

On the outside we spot the numbers 3 and 4 of the rather strong Limbra tour in the SE of the country, Marjolein Hanssen (1320) and Steffi Geelen (1318).

The most prominent competitor of this cluster, just right from the middle, is Vera van den Haak (1326).

This is about the center of the field, probably the best place to start from, with one of the favorites, Karlijn Mertens (1302) below the ladder. Vera van den Haak (1326) is another participant to consider for a high ranking.

Four of the favorites have clustered about the center of this picture: Meike van Gastel (1337), Daphne van der Lee (1319), Laura Rijvers (1306), and Julie van den Bout (1312). along with Mirna van Slooten (1324), a high ranker in the Limbra and Kempen tours in the southeast.

Number 1316 is Maya Yvette Kingma, a favorite of the hosting track club Spiridon, of Gilze-Rijen.

The taller girl in the middle is Tess van den Assem (1314). Like her teammates of Scorpio from very nearby Oosterhout, she has trouble with het large bib, caused by the heavy western winds, even in this corner.

Mertens, Van Gastel, Rijvers, and Van den Bout have taken the first hurdle of this race, by not losing any ground right after the start. The very first stage of this races weighs heavy, because the total race distance is only 1200 metres, way too short for most of the favorites.

This is the second imporatnt stage, where the athletes seek their positions for the narrow gateway that is quickly approaching. Mertens, Van Gastel, Rijvers, and Van den Bout have started from the center of the field, and do not have to waste energy to adjust their course now.

Hanssen, who raised high expectations with her victories in the Limbra races in Helden and Venray in January, is about to lose her race right here. When we draw an imaginary diagonal from the middle left to the lower right of this corner, we see that she is too far behind already.

The right wing of the field has much more wind to deal with as well. All buildings and tents are on the left side of the course, offering some shelter against the elements. Hanssen is struggling much harder than Van Gastel, Rijvers, and Van den Bout, and this closely taken picture shows how dangerously far she is behind already.

Van der Meer, Van der Most, and Rense Leseman (1321) will not play a principal part in the 1100 metres to come, that is almost certain already.

We have quickly moved to the other side of the fence, where the combattants leave the forest, at some 500 metres from the finish. We have arrived just in time to spot Van Gastel, who has left the rest of the field behind.

Rijvers and Van den Bout trail Van Gastel by four seconds already, so they have to act quickly. Despite of her bad start, Van der Meer has managed to make it to rank four, but at what cost?

Mertens, Van der Lee, and Hanssen seem to have accepted the fact that they will not win this short race any more, it would require an extra loop of 1200 metres or so to make up for what they have lost so far.

We have sprinted back to the dirts track, but we won't be able make it to the finish to welcome the winners, as we can see from this picture (lots of fences, water, and mud). To be honest, we had to wait until all participants of this race had passed the narrow gate, for reasons of safety and fair competition. That cost us half a minute, so are just in time to witness Kingma taking spot 6, certainly a little succes for the hosts of Spiridon.

So we can just tell you the outcome of the race in front of Kingma. Rijvers caught up with Van Gastel, and eventually defeated her by 3 seconds. Van den Bout managed to hold fast finishing Mertens off the bronze medal, by one arbitrary second (times are still rounded upward, despite all of the advanced techniques of 2008 that could provide at least 1 million percent more accuracy ). Van den Haak took rank 5, two seconds behind Mertens. Kingma caught up with Van der Lee and Van der Meer, who have also passed this point already. Van der Lee took rank 7, Van der Meer rank 8.

Hanssen is certainly not content with rank 9 she is about to take. Her style is still excellent, but she should consider a more aerodynamic outfit in the future. Clothes can get wet and catch a lot of wind, and slow you down if you wear too many. Her companion Jessy Homminga is taking place 11.

Hanssen turned out a quick learner. This is the outfit she wore in the regional clubteam finals in Sittard on June 21, 2008. Now she just has to get in good shape, and run 1000 metres within 3.10.00, which should be a piece of cake for anyone with talent. Ask Marlin van Hal and Juul Lavrijsen for example, who used to have a hard time to run slower than 3.10.00 at the same age, in 2006.

Suzanne Wildhagen (1328) is going to make it to the top-10, on the cost of Homminga, Geelen (12th), and Van der Most (13th).

Sharona Plasmeijer (1304) is about to pass her Aalsmeer teammate Eva van Ee (1305), and will even bypass De Bresser for place 14. Van Ee will finish as number 16.

Cecile Monden (1305) will prove the strongest of this group of six, and end up 17th. Lisa Steenderen (1330), Ilse Zorge (1331), Karlijn van Es (1303) will, in this order, take the next three ranks. Van Es is still hidden behind already introduced Mirna van Slooten, the second and probably quickest of four sisters, that are running here today. Tired Leseman is about to lose some more ground, to opponents some 20 metres behind in the corner, and heading for rank 25.

Now we have a better look at Van Es (20th) and Leseman (25th). Behind Monden, who is about to jump to rank 17, we spot Fleur Baljet (1315), who is going to take rank 22, just ahead of Chérise Helant Muller (1316).

Van den Assem, already introduced at the start, will be good for rank 24. Rowan van Dongen (1334), Aileen Blommaert (1339), and Kirsten van Tilburg (1335) will take ranks 26, 27, and 28.

Lotte van der Westen (1322) and Manal Boutahri (1327) have already taken their final rankings 29 and 30.

Anne Martens, who we have mentioned already in the discussion of the early stages of this race, will hand rank 33 (number last of this race) over to Lisanne van Manen (1300). Lisa Zopfi (1336), not visible on this picture, and almost invisible on the others we took of this stage of the race, will outsprint both of them for rank 31.

Rijvers, in the middle, has lots of reasons to be happy. She has not only won the 1995 race, but also equalized the time of 4.49, in which Nisrine Masrhalmi won the 1996 race. Six weeks ago, in Breda, Masrhalmi defeated Rijvers by six seconds in a head-to-head battle.

The picture suggests that Rijvers is almost as tall as Van Gastel and Van den Bout, but the silver and bronze medalists are still standing on their own steps of the victory platform, and these are a lot lower. Just look at the training pants to get a better idea of the substantial difference in size between Rijvers and the others, not to mention the differences in musculature. Rijvers is more built for 1500 metres and upward, like Mertens, Van der Lee, Hanssen, Masrhalmi, Brilman, Keizers, Van den Ouweland, and others, while Van Gastel and Van den Bout are more likely built for 400 and 800 metres.

These differences in size and shape tend to occur 2-4 years sooner than in the 1980's, so we should consider to start specialization a lot earlier, in order not to lose more ground on the Africans. Perhaps we should not split the D-juniors (for 2008: those born in 1995 and 1996) by the year they were born in, but by the distances they are able to chose from, for example, 1200 and 2400 metres. This reasoning should apply to older age groups as well.

		Women 1995, 1200 m
1	1306	Laura Rijvers	1995	Gloria	4.49
2	1337	Meike van Gastel	1995	Delta Sport	4.52
3	1312	Julie van den Bout	1995	Passaat	4.55
4	1302	Karlijn Mertens	1995	Nijmegen Atletiek	4.56
5	1326	Vera van den Haak	1995	Sparta	5.00
6	1316	Maya Yvette Kingma	1995	Spiridon	5.02
7	1319	Daphne van der Lee	1995	ACW'66	5.03
8	1307	Minke van der Meer	1995	AV Heerenveen	5.03
9	1320	Marjolein Hanssen	1995	't Jasper Sport	5.06
10	1328	Suzanne Wildhagen	1995	Sprint	5.08
11	1317	Jessy Homminga	1995	GAC Hilversum	5.11
12	1318	Steffi Geelen	1995	AV Weert	5.11
13	1301	Sophie van der Most	1995	De Liemers	5.14
14	1304	Sharona Plasmeijer	1995	AV Aalsmeer	5.18
15	1332	Ilonka de Bresser	1995	Generaal Michaelis	5.18
16	1309	Eva van Ee	1995	AV Aalsmeer	5.21
17	1305	Cecile Monden	1995	DJA	5.23
18	1330	Lisa van Steenderen	1995	Sprint	5.24
19	1331	Ilse Zorge	1995	Sprint	5.27
20	1303	Karlijn van Es	1995	Energie	5.29
21	1324	Mirna van Slooten	1995	AVV	5.31
22	1315	Fleur Baljet	1995	Horror	5.31
23	1310	Cherise Helant Muller	1995	Phanos	5.34
24	1314	Tess van den Assem	1995	Scorpio	5.35
25	1321	Rense Leseman	1995	Ciko'66	5.36
26	1334	Rowan van Dongen	1995	Scorpio	5.40
27	1339	Aileen Blommaert	1995	Delta Sport	5.41
28	1335	Kirsten van Tilburg	1995	Scorpio	5.43
29	1322	Lotte vd Westen	1995	HAC	5.55
30	1327	Manal Boutahri	1995	Sparta	5.57
31	1336	Lisa Zopfi	1995	Scorpio	6.01
32	1325	Anne Martens	1995	Caesar	6.02
33	1300	Lisanne van Manen	1995	Ilion	6.02