There was no other fitting result for the Benny Vansteelant Memorial Duathlon than for his younger brother Joerie to take the title.  This past weekend in Torhout, the ITU Duathlon World Series race took to the streets near Benny’s home where he tragically died while training last year. 

The race was unusually made up of five segments which began with a 10-kilometer run, then a 30-kilometer bike, a 5-kilometer run, another 30-kilometer bike and finished with a 5-kilometer run. 

Vansteelant made his move in the first bike leg where he was 1:20 faster than anyone else in the field.  He scorched the bike course again in the second bike segment for the fastest split of the day.  From there he cruised to the finish line more than three minutes ahead of compatriot Bart Aernouts and five minutes ahead of Jurgen Dereere.

2008 Torhout ITU Duathlon World Series Event
10km run, 30km bike, 5km run, 30km bike, 5km run
1 Vansteelant, Joerie BEL 02:30:10
2 Aernouts, Bart BEL 02:33:51
3 Dereere, Jurgen BEL 02:35:10
4 Nieuwkerk, Wim NED 02:36:11
5 Van der Smissen, Armand NED 02:36:26
6 Coddens, Kris BEL 02:36:38
7 Boulogne, Jeremy FRA 02:36:57
8 Nielsen, Aksel DEN 02:37:03
9 Maetens, Jeroen BEL 02:37:34
10 Bystrup, Soren DEN 02:37:47
Click here for full field results

In the small women’s field, Mariska Kramer-Postma of the Netherlands took the title, finishing almost three minutes ahead of Belgian Veerle D’Haese.

2008 Torhout ITU Duathlon World Series Event
10km run, 30km bike, 5km run, 30km bike, 5km run
1 Kramer-Postma, Mariska NED 02:59:42
2 D´Haese, Veerle BEL 03:02:32
3 Parsons, Michelle GBR 03:08:25
Click here for full field results

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An emotional day for Joerie Vansteelant who wins the Duathlon in memory of his late brother