Gristwood and Rollins dominate M-21 E and W-21 E at Interland 2009
February 22, 2009 by Niels-Peter Foppen
Today the annual Interland took place; the English team, the Dutch team and two Belgian teams (the Flemish and the French speaking parts) competed against each other.
Graham Gristwood, golden medal at relay World Orienteering Championships 2008, obtained the victory on Burnham Beeches and Egypt Woods. In a chat with Gristwood last night after dinner he told he expected to run about 5min/km in the fast terrain. He ran even faster today, 4.56min/km, and finished with a margin of 1 minute 19 seconds ahead of Fabien Pasquasy. Gristwood, in the middle of his winterseason and after having recently returned back from South Africa from a trainingcamp is in good shape. Yesterday he competed at the English national cross country championships at Parliament Hill Fields, London and finished in 47th position.
“I was satisfied about my race today. I knew I had to run fast all the time. I started fast and did not made so many mistakes. 2 small mistakes in the circle. I lost about less then a minute in total. Sometimes it was hard keeping direction on the slopes. It all looks the same, there are not so many features, so finally the compass was very important.”, Gristwood told afterwards in the finish area. Fabien Pasquasy, who had competed on the map about 11 years ago during a junior match, Junior European Cup nowadays, also started fast but had some problems at the end of the course. “My legs where tired and I was also a bit worried about my ankle” he told. 2 days ago he got injured during a training. “I took it easy for about a minute, and then tried to push again but I was too tired…” Pasquasy finished with a clear margin of 2 minutes 56 seconds ahead of Matt Crane.
Results M-21 elite
1) Graham Gristwood 01:13:53
2) Fabien Pasquasy 01:15:12
3) Matt Crane 01:17:44
Sarah Rollins, who also participated yesterday at the English national cross country championships 2009 and finished in 37th position, took the victory in W-21 elite with a margin of 47 seconds ahead of Pippa Whitehouse.
“My race went very well. I did not reaaly made any mistakes” Rolins told afterwards. Did she expected to obtain the victory? “Yes I think so…As long as I did not made any big mistakes I knew I had a chance, but you never know. Anything can happen. I knew I had to stay focused.” “Luckily there is always my sidekick Pippa making sure I have to work hard!” she laughs. Pippa White house finished as 2nd with quite a big margin, 5 minutes 28 seconds, ahead of Kim Geypen in 3th position.
Results W-21 elite
1) Sarah Rollins 01:02:24
2) Pippa Whitehouse 01:03:11
3) Kim Geypen 01:08:39
Overall the English team gathered the most points and became the winner of the Interland 2009. The Belgian VVO (the Flemish speaking part) followed as second, followed by the Belgian FRSO (the French speaking part) in third place. The Dutch team became 4th.
