Haarleberg 10K
A bit further afield one of our newer members and Sidbury resident Dutchman Bert Dykema returned home to run in the 7th Haarleberg 10K event in the Netherlands. Feeling confident with the training he had been doing running all the lovely hills around here the flat terrain of Holland would prove little problem.
He was so confident in fact he decided to race his marathon running sister Frederiek and his two young nephews Jelle and Joost who spend most of their spare time playing football. So lining up at the start with the other 920 runners in the cold +2 degrees, (too cold for the Mighty Green he said,) they were off. These Dutchmen are a bit soft, the Club has another in Tony Velterop and he only runs if it’s not raining.
However back to the race, and the boys came home in 45 minutes, Bert in 50 and Frederiek in 56. A very good result for Bert, considering the opposition.
This result obviously spurred him on as a couple of days later despite the horrendous weather on Monday with his running buddy Paula Farrand they both headed off to Exeter Arena to take part in a 3K speed session. Racing in group E, the race which is seven and a half laps of the circuit Paula came in a medal winning third in 13:20 with Bert just missing out coming fourth in 13:45.