Saturday saw the ninth edition of the MetaRelax Ostend Night Run. A sporty evening competition in the seaside resort that brought the 3,000 participants to special locations. This was organised by Toerisme Oostende and Rotary Oostende Ter Streep.
The Ostend Night Run was free for children. Runners could choose from three different distances: 7, 14 or 21 km. Many groups participated again. Schools, sports clubs and companies used it as team building and to participate in the Topteam Challenge, where the top three teams with the largest number of participants received a financial incentive of 250, 200 and 150 euros respectively.
The proceeds of the Ostend Night Run will go to Ithaka and the new project Schol. This experience store was officially opened last week in the Kaaistraat and is co-operated by people with disabilities.
Results
The three different running competitions started at sunset on the sea wall at the Drie Gapers, where the finish was also located. There Maité Maes (Hermes Club Oostende) was the first to cross the finish line in the women’s half marathon in 1h24’24”. Eva Jonckheere and Jana Janssens came second and third respectively. The victory in the men’s longest distance was for Jonas Vervaecke. He finished in 1h11’14” and had a lead of more than a minute on Andy Riemaeker and Nico Van Der Hauwaert.
The victory over a distance of 14 kilometers was for Bjorn Verpoorte in the men’s race. The athlete from Lombardsijde ran an average of almost one kilometer faster than Cedric Schraepen who came in second. Mattijs D’hoedt came in third. Charlotte Van Laethem from neighboring Zandvoorde won the 14 kilometers in the women’s race, albeit at a blistering pace. She finished with a whopping four and a half minutes lead over Annelies Demuynck. Els Landuyt came in third.
The victory in the 7 kilometers for men was for Reinbert Van Acker, ahead of Ewout Vandorpe and Glenn Debruyne. Eva Soetemans, final winner for masters in the past Loopcriterium van de Kust, proved to be the fastest for women. She won ahead of Eline Brissinck and Nouchka Willems. (ACR)
