3 Days of Belgium 2022
Four Saxons on a long weekend of orienteering and tourism
This July's 3 Days of Belgium was held at the east side of the country, in the 'High Fens'.
The region has extensive forests and pleasant rolling countryside. Unusually the events were centred on 2 dams that were built to provide reservoirs for Aachen's water supply. C.O. Liege ably hosted the events: Middle distance on late Friday afternoon and 2 Long races on Saturday and Sunday. The Planners were kind to our age classes, eg.W65/M70: 2.8km 45m; 3.4km 30m; 2.8km 100m.
Although one might have expected the undergrowth to be a bit of a hindrance at this time of year, the forests were generally runnable, and winning times were around 30mins on our courses.
The High Fens is the location of the highest point in Belgium, the Signal de Botrange, and the summit was a tourism opportunity for the Saxons group (Jean Fitzgerald, Sarah Howes, Simon Blanchflower and Mark Glaisher). Picturesque Monschau, just over the border in Germany, was also visited.
It was nice to have the opportunity to orienteer abroad again, without too much travelling (round trip 650 miles).
Prizes from the Belgian Peak Brewery were a nice local touch!
Photos courtesy Simon Blanchflower & Mark Glaisher
MG
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