Jonas Saelens is the new Belgian Marathon Champion in a race won by Dutch Joep van Bakel at Neerpelt

Left to right: van Bakel, Cremers, Saelens and Broekx. Pic: Marc Faes (Neerpelt.in)

On Saturday it was held at Neerpelt the Kempen Marathon, flagged as Belgian Championships 2013. In a very cold day, the race was open, but first Belgian in each category earned the national title.


At the Men Senior race, over 22 km., a group of four paddlers was leading the race, including three Belgians (Tom Cremers, Toon Broekx and Jonas Saelens) and Dutch champion Joep van Bakel. But the race was broken after the second portage (out of three). It was then when Toon Broekx suffered of cramps in his legs, due to the cold and lost a lot of time until he recovered. Joep van Bakel then saw his opportunitty going onto the water to push hard, leaving behind Cremers and Saelens.

Jonas Saelens and Lize Broekx, Belgian Champions on 5.000 metres

Christoph Bittner, Belgium

The first big race weekend in Belgium is a fact. The season started with the Belgian Nationals 5000m at the channel Kortrijk-Bossuit at the Harelbeekse Kanovereniging nearby Kortrijk. About more than 100 athletes showed up to fight for the title. The big guns like Laurens Pannecoucke, Wouter D’Haene and Olivier Cauwenberghs were not present because they had to follow their own training schedule which didn’t allow them to do a 5 km race. Even the Be-Gold team (Jonas Saelens, Toon Broekx, Lize Broekx, Wiliam Peters, Jonathan Delombaerde…) were allowed to do just one race over the whole weekend. The starting list lost a bit of his glamour but the sub top could show their skills this weekend.

Be-Gold team member Jonas Saelens started as the favorite in the K1 5000m. Other big favorites were Tuur Bettens (KSKZ), Senne Versmissen (TKC) and Vincent Naert (KSKZ). Over 40 seniors tried their luck to win a medal. During the first 200m Jonas Saelens took the lead together with a group of ten. The sprint for the first turn between Saelens, Bettens and Naert ended in a small tragedy for KSKZ.