Rijen, March 2, 2008 - Women 1991-1992

About 35 women of 1991-1992 depart for their race over 3900 metres, the first race of Sunday. This is the left wing, with Nikki Tromp (844) at the outer left.

This is the left center of the field, with some of the most reputed athletes of this category: Maureen Koster (809), Juul Lavrijsen (812), 4th from right, and partially hidden behind Koster, and somewhat more to the left we spot Marleen Loman (808), and Bo Klaassen (811).

This is the right center, with Elisa de Jong (801), and Wilmke Boersma (824), two favorites from the northeast.

The western wind is not as strong as yesterday, but still blowing straight into the faces of these ladies. The conditions do not keep favorite number one Koster to take the lead immediately. This picture has been taken at some 60 metres from the starting line.

We can read from the faces in the middle of the group, that conditions are not easy, and the pace is quick.

The aggressive tactics of Koster have paid off. She has created a substantial gap, and we are only at a quarter of the race.

Klaassen leads the pursuit at six seconds, ahead of Lavrijsen (812), Martje de Jong (804) , and many others.

Marije Hulzebos (821) is catching up from a bad start. She still has to make up some ground with Elisa de Jong and almost invisible Boersma, who in turn are trailing Koster by sixteen seconds.

The course is about 1700 metres old now, some 500 metres from the end of the yellow lap of 1200 metres. Her lead has grown substantially, and her closest rivals are not in sight yet.

Lavrijsen has formed a one-man pursuit group at twelve seconds, and still looks comfortable. Can she hold on to this pace? That would be a big surpise. She was the best of all Dutch women of 1993-1994 in Tilburg in november, and women of 1993-1994 are not by definition slower than women of 1991-1992, but Lavrijsen is known to have trained too little in the last six weeks or so. Compared to Koster, she has obviously a lot more weight to spare.

This cluster with Boersma, Loman, and Elisa de Jong is still holding something in reserve, with more than half the race ahead. Hulzebos has caught up with them.

The pace of the pursuit group has almost forced Nienke van 't Veer (838), Lisanne Drost (807), and Sanne Woertink (806), a teammate of Hulzebos, to resign for the medal competition. Van 't Veer was forced to drop out later in the race, and we don't know the cause yet.

These are Daisy Kusters (826) and Anne van Loon (828), both from the NE region of the large province North Brabant.

Lisanne Wever (803) is about to say goodbye to Stijntje Mertens (800), the sister of Karlijn Mertens, who finished 4th in the race for women of 1995 yesterday.

It must have been a great feeling for Koster to descend from the last hill, with a whole crowd to welcome her as the first new champion of the day, but it is not done yet. She still has more than a quarter mile to cover, and it will not be the easiest part of the course.

Boersma and Hulzebos have narrowed their margin with Koster to less than fourteen seconds, but this will clearly not be enough to keep her off the gold.

The grey-haired man with the camera, behind the white tape, is Has van Cuijk, the head coach of Lavrijsen. He flew to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in week 11, to coach Susan Kuijken of Florida State to her first NCAA1 title, and an impressive 8.58 over 3000 metres.

This is the first time we have spotted Koster with a broad smile after a race, and why not? After three silver medals in 2007, she is now taking her second gold within fifteen days. She took the other title at the Dutch indoor nationals over 1500 metres in Belgian Ghent, on February 16.

Boersma has outsprinted Hulzebos for silver. Not too much of a surprise, since the Frisian ranked high at 800 and 1500 in 2007, while Hulzebos virtually ran no track races.

Boersma is glad with her silver medal. In Ghent, over 1500 metres, she was beaten by Koster, Jip Vastenburg, and Jamie van Lieshout, and left with nothing. Vastenburg took silver yesterday in the race for women of 1993-1994. Van Lieshout made a reconnaissance of the course on Saturday, but decided not to run this race. She underwent minor surgery lately.

... and tired she is. In fact, nobody knew Hulzebos until this race, because she has mainly run races in the thinly populated northeast of the country.

Also tired Boersma is paying tribute to Koster, her new queen that looks not tired at all, and is still laughing.

Martje de Jong outkicks her namesake Elisa de Jong for place four. Another surprise, for the only feat of arms we could find of Martje for 2007, was 2.25 over 800 metres, while Elisa was seven seconds faster.

Van Loon has come back to take place six, ahead of Klaassen, yet another surprise in this race.

Klaassen can never be happy with her seventh place, having taken bronze in 2007 over 1500 metres outdoors in Utrecht, and having been second Dutch 1991-1992 athlete in Tilburg.

Celine de Wild (825) has good reason to be satisfied, for she has just beaten junior international Loman for place eight. Loman took gold medals in the 1992-1993 nationals over 600 and 1000 metres in Western Amsterdam, late August 2007. The most important victory was in the race over 1000 metres on Saturday, the 25th.

These nationals were held very closely after Summer vacation. Koster (101) and Lavrijsen (431) did not run very much in July and August, and paid the price on the track of AAC in Western Amsterdam. Koster held the lead for more than 700 metres. As usual, Marlin van Hal (276) launched her attack on the back straight. She shook Koster off, but could not get rid of Loman (329) and Nicola Krukkert (133). Loman had a quicker finish than Van Hal, who could just hold on to silver. Lavrijsen, who could not keep up with the leaders from the start, came back to outsprint tired Koster for place four.

It turned out an important sprint. The national head coach of juniors had to select 6 athletes for the dual meet with Westphalia in Almelo on September 1, three for 800 metres, and three for 2000 metres. She grossly overestimated the importance of the 600 metres lottery in Amsterdam on Sunday, August 26, rating rank 6 over 600 metres more important than rank 5 in the much stronger race over 1000 metres. She decided to take ranks 1, 2, and 6 of 600 metres to Almelo for the race over 800 metres, and numbers 2, 3, and 4 of 1000 metres for the race over 2000 metres. She simply forgot about the impressive silver medals, that allround Koster took at the nationals for athletes of 1990 and 1991 over 800 and 1500 metres, early in July in Utrecht.

This is where Koster (328) takes her second silver medal of the weekend of the nationals in Utrecht, in the strong race over 1500 metres, on July 8, 2007, behind superior Margriet Berkhout, but ahead of Bo Klaassen (719), and Jamie van Lieshout (711).

Lavrijsen has dropped back to rank eleven. The last lap of 1800 metres has been a long way for her. We have coached her often, but never seen her this tired and disappointed.

This is how fit and content Lavrijsen looked after her best race to date, in Stiphout, on November 26, 2006, a little over 15 months before the nationals of 2008.

The field of junior women in Stiphout was one of the strongest in history, with almost all of the national toppers in the 1988-1993 range present. Lavrijsen made 3rd in that race. We don't count Manon Kruiver, Lotte Jacobs, and Esther Arts, who made another big loop in order to decide who was going to the European championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, on December 10, 2006. Kruiver and Jacobs finished so close, that the national cross country head coach decided to take both with him to Italy. Margriet Berkhout and Marieke Falkmann did not have to start in Stiphout, since they qualified for San Giorgio in Tilburg, two weeks earlier.

The victory ceremony for women of 1991-1992 starts less than five minutes after Koster, Boersma, and Hulzebos have finished.

		Women 91-92, 3900 m
1	809	Maureen Koster	1992	AV'47	16.01
2	824	Wilmke Boersma	1991	Horror	16.14
3	821	Marije Hulzebos	1993	HAC'63	16.17
4	804	Martje de Jong	1991	Trias	16.45
5	801	Elisa de Jong	1992	Groningen Atletiek	16.46
6	828	Anne van Loon	1991	Oss'78	16.49
7	811	Bo Klaassen	1991	AV'56	16.51
8	825	Celine de Wild	1992	THOR	16.52
9	808	Marleen Loman	1992	NOP	16.53
10	806	Sanne Woertink	1991	HAC'63	17.03
11	812	Juul Lavrijsen	1993	Seven Hills Running	17.10
12	807	Lisanne Drost	1991	Athlos	17.14
13	816	Lisa te Molder	1991	Atletico'73	17.19
14	831	Ashley Schouwenaar	1992	SV Sportlust	17.22
15	820	Daisy Kusters	1991	GAC Gemert	17.23
16	803	Lisanne Wever	1991	NEA Volharding	17.27
17	802	Jeanine van de Klashorst	1991	Atverni	17.29
18	817	Esther Bosboom	1992	Zuidwal	17.42
19	843	Inge Sengers	1992	AVV	17.58
20	800	Stijntje Mertens	1992	Nijmegen Atletiek	18.11
21	840	Anouk Molenaar	1991	Trias	18.11
22	841	Marise Hop	1991	BAV	18.12
23	833	Marjolein van Marrewijk	1992	Olympus'70	18.14
24	822	Bianca Luteijn	1992	De Wielingen	18.15
25	815	Maud Schijven	1992	Nijmegen Atletiek	18.28
26	835	Diekje van Heeswijk	1992	AV Heythuysen	18.29
27	805	Lisa Habermehl	1992	Energie	18.42
28	813	Sanne Sibbald	1993	AV Zeewolde	19.24
29	810	Lotte Visser	1992	Energie	19.30
30	826	Mayke Paap	1992	Triathlon	19.52
31	842	Jasmijn Rost	1991	AV'40	20.40
32	844	Nikki Tromp	1991	GVAC	20.42
33	829	Danique Ploegmakers	1991	Oss'78	21.10
34	814	Lotte Sibbald	1993	AV Zeewolde	21.32

Maureen Koster did not rest on her laurels after the Dutch nationals cross country in early March 2008. On May 10, she lowered her personal best over 800 metres to 2.11.26 in Western Amsterdam, on the same windy track of the 1992-1993 nationals, in August 2007. She did it all on her own, with no help of any rabbit.

When she went to the junior nationals in Groningen, three weeks later, Koster was still trailing Marlies Manders by a little over 2 seconds in the national rankings of women of 1991-1992. In the final, on May 31, Koster ran in front until the last turn to the home straight, and surprised Manders by countering her attack immediately. After a shoulder-tot-shoulder sprint, Manders was able to beat Koster by a mere 0.13 seconds, her winning time being 2.13.11. "I should have run quicker between the 400 and 600 metres marks," Koster analyzed.

One day later, Koster took the 1991-1992 title over 1500 metres in 4.37.33, a personal best. She was even four seconds faster than Margriet Berkhout in the race of women of 1989-1990. It's true that Berkhout started out slowly, and just ran to win the race, but we should keep in mind that she has been one of the better European juniors in cross country and track since 2006 or so.

Koster went out a little too quick, and had to face some problems in the final lap of the race. Her closest rival Jamie van Lieshout approached quickly, but found a very well determined Koster in front of her. The picture above shows about where Koster forced Van Lieshout to surrender, and find herself beaten by little over four seconds. For whatever it's worth: even Van Lieshout was still slightly quicker than Berkhout in the 1989-1990 final over 1500 metres..

Maureen Koster saved her best show for an unexpected moment, in the third meet of the Run2Day series, in Utrecht on June 27, 2008. In a mixed 1500 metres race, chiefly with male masters, she lowered her personal best over 1500 metres by more than 6 seconds, to 4.31.02. It was very windy and rather cold, so she abandonned her usual tactics of leaving the rest of the field behind in the early stage of the race. This time, she sheltered in the group, and outsprinted all but one male opponent in the end. The picture above was taken right after this magnificent performance.

Two days earlier, at the Nimwegen Global Athletics EAA permit meet, we advised Marlin van Hal and Juul Lavrijsen to grasp the only chance they would get to beat Koster in this outdoor season. Koster graduated from havo, a Dutch equivalent of high school, right after the junior nationals. In the Netherlands, you are virtuallly obligated to take part in an excessive series of festivities after such graduation, and these festivities would certainly do no good to your shape. Her dad, William agreed to our point of view. "This was their chance. In August, after vacation, she is going to prepare to kick ass in the cross country season, and will she be almost unbeatable."

Despite all of their talent, Van Hal and Lavrijsen would not have had any chance at all in Utrecht, for they would have had to lower their p.b.'s by 11 and 14 seconds, respectively. Lavrijsen did well enough by winning the open Eastern championships for athletes of 1993-1994 in 4.49.95 in Ulft/Gendringen, about 16 hours later. The only one that really gave Koster some stuff to think about, was Jamie van Lieshout. She did 800 metres in 2.11.95 almost precisely 24 hours later, in the Harry Schulting Games in Vught, tearing more than 3 seconds off her record so far.

We have no pictures of the Harry Schulting Games in Vught, but offer this one of the Nimwegen Global Athetics, held on June 25, instead. In another race over 800 metres, Van Lieshout has just beaten the other 1989-1994 women by a long way.

Juul Lavrijsen (687) went back to work after the cross country nationals, and was only slightly overweight when she went to Groningen. Despite a setback in training, because of injury, she still made rank 6 in the final won so gloriously by Maureen Koster. On the picture, Lavrijsen is surrounded from her left to right by Bo Klaassen (3rd), Lisanne Wever (5th), surprising Jip Vastenburg (4th), and (bended over) Van Lieshout. Quite some talent gathered here, that had to yield to the supremacy of Koster. We would argue, that the two 1500 metres races of the women of 1991-1992, and the one of the women of 1989-1990, hosted more talent, than any other event of the 3-day nationals in the far North of the country.

Lavrijsen announced at the Nimwegen Global Athletics EAA permit meet, that she is going to train on altitude in Font Romeu in the second half of July 2008, and go to the beach for one week afterwards. She did not go with her parents alone. Almost half her track club, Seven Hills Running Team of Nimwegen, joined her in the Pyrenees. Since we know her qualities very well, we would predict her to run 2.12-2.14 over 800 metres, 2.52-2.55 over 1000 metres, and 4.30-4.35 over 1500 metres, in August and September. This is just the difference between training on high altitude, and not training at all in Summer vacation. Koster went to Bretignolles-sur-Mer, a small town on the west coast of France, somewhere between Nantes and Bordeaux. It turned out that the national French team of her age group had a training camp in nearby Les Sables d'Olonnes, in the week that she arrived in the Vendée.