England dominates the 2010 edition of the Interland Cup
March 7, 2010 by Niels-Peter Foppen
More than 200 runners lined up this early morning in Hechtel – Belgium for the 2010 edition of the Interland Cup, the annual competition between England, two Belgian teams – Flemish (VVO) and French speaking (FRSO), The Netherlands (NOLB), the Nordrhein-Westfalische (NW Germany) team. This year a French team from LNPCCO – the Calais region – joined the match aswell.
Hechtelse duinen, the competition area, is a military training ground with moorland, sandy areas and mixed vegetation. The runnability is good and the small relief makes orienteering interesting.
It was in the summer of 1997 that a big number of the nowadays world elite runners took part in the JWOC relay held on the same map. Then the temperature must have been more comfortable, but we cannot complain after weeks of snow and ice. It was only a bit windy on the open area but it was sunny and the sky was open. Is Spring approaching?
It was a pity that Fabian Pasquasy (FRSO) - back in 1997 also running JWOC – was was not able to participate due to sickness. It would have been and interesting fight between Pasquasy – who dominated last weekends 1st National race in Belgium – and England representatives Matthew Crane and “good-old” Nick Barrable.
It was no surprise that the English team gathered the most points and became the winner of the Interland 2010. The Belgian VVO (the Flemish speaking part) followed as second, followed by the Belgian FRSO (the French speaking part) in third place. LNPCCO team – 4th, The Netherlands – 5th – and the Nordrhein-Westfalische team – 6th did not made the podium.
After the race we had a chat with Matthew Crane and Nick Barrable.
Matthew; how was your race? You took the victory in the Mens-Open class.
I had a good run, I was quite careful however it was not as hard as I thought it might be. I was pleased with how I ran, and did not make big mistakes.
How about todays terrain? Yesterdays training area seemed a bit too easy.
Today the terrain was interesting and fast. Really nice forest, I really enjoyed it. The forest in the South of England is a the moment wet and mudday, so it was nice to be here where the ground is dryer and firmer.
Nick; are you satisfied about your race?
It was pretty good, I was reasonably happy. I have made a few small mistakes and my race could have been a bit smoother, but overall I am definitely happy.
Less than 2 months until 10MILA we asked them about their plans for the big relays this year.
Matthew; I will only run Jukola this year. I don’t know how secret it is but we have a team with some of the top British orienteers running all for the same team. We aim for the best non-Scandinavian club in top-20. We have got a good team together including Graham Gristwood and Jamie Stevenson for example. So let’s see how every body is fit.
Nick; I am back in Stockholm for another year. I hope for some terrain strength in my legs again living out there. I will run for my club OK Ravinen of course and probably the long night, my favourite leg. We will see how our team will perform this year since we are – I think – a little bit weaker then previous years. Of course we will participate in Jukola aswell.
