The final tunes of the Bolero of Ravel and the Brabançonne - in crescendo - echoed through the 3 arches of the "Parc du Cinquantenaire" covered by cloudy skies. Then suddenly a tidal wave of 28.000 runners engulfed Brussels on Sunday 27th May 2007, once a cannon fired the 28th edition at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Among them 9 athletes (4 women and 5 men) trooping the colours of Atos Origin, mind-set to the target of completing the 20 kilometres ahead with grace. First to cross the finish this year in 1 hour sharp was Mohamed Abduh Bakhet from Qatar. Catherine Lallemand - for the 3rd time in a row - was the fastest woman, arriving in 1 hour 12 minutes, thus ranking 102nd. Considering the sheer number of participants, that's really close to Atos Origin's very own champion - Zouhier Harnafi - who ended 423nd at an incredible 1:19:06, i.e. a running-average of more then 15 kilometres per hour !!! Following at his heels were Dominique De Munck, Yves Alexandre (who improved his last year's score with 9 minutes) and Annick Labie, who all put down excellent times under 2 hours. Obviously the cool breeze was conducive to high speeds and fun running, so also the "joggers" ended their day in excellent spirits.
| ID | Team Member | Time | Rank |
| 2276 | Harnafi, Zouhier | 1:19:06 | 423 |
| 14621 | De Munck, Dominique | 1:27:29 | 1626 |
| 2231 | Alexandre, Yves | 1:31:28 | 2607 |
| 14622 | Labie, Annick | 1:38:20 | 5085 |
| 14623 | Leonard, Jessica | 2:01:54 | 14052 |
| 18288 | Hoornaert, Patrick | 2:20:40 | 19814 |
| 9107 | Van Assche, Micheline | 2:24:33 | 20892 |
| 14624 | Van Hoorebeke, Eric | 2:25:19 | 21105 |
| 14625 | Vosters, Koen | 2:46:26 | 22855 |
Lessons Learned (for 2008):
- Get budget approved before 1st March, otherwise registrations are already well underway.
- E-mail to all of Belux ... we won't get more then 15 participants (alternatively we could set quota beforehand).
- Agree to meet at an exact time at an exact location, or we won't spot each other in the huge crowd.
- Distribute t-shirts with Running IDs via the Reception Desk.
My Personal Records:
- 27/05/2007 ID 18288 rank 19,814 in 2:20:40 i.e. 8.6 km/hour
- 28/05/2006 ID 20942 rank 18,769 in 2:17:00 i.e. 8.8 km/hour
- 29/05/2005 ID 18594 rank 19,308 in 2:24:26 i.e. 8 km/hour
- 30/05/2004 ID 20763 rank 17,253 in 2:19:36 i.e. 8.7 km/hour
For more information, see www.20kmdebruxelles.be/20km organised each year by the SIBP/VBPR (Brussels Promotion).
