Parliament Hill Fields
Autumn, early
November, and so it’s time again to cross the North Sea and run as a standing
tradition by now 'track & field' in
This year there
was again (for once?) a decent amount of Dutch civil servants present, 6 from
Housing, Spatial Planning & Environment and 7 from the Treasury. With as
'standard values' Wim Kooij, Jan van Vliet and Niek Tetteroo, 'guests' like Jos
Koot and Baldwin Poolman and not to forget Jan van Vliet’s daughter Linda 
(lrft) as a right-out
'oncoming talent' (she ran the women’s race well within 30 minutes!). The Treasury brought along 'aces' like Robbert Tjoa,
Peter Koedood, Olaf Simonse and Mark Bezemer, to name a few of them...
It turns out to
be nice weather (are we entitled to have this during the yearly CSAA XC?) with
‘circus horse’ running: 2 laps (of 2 miles) for the women, and 3 for the men.
It proves to be a somewhat 'uneasy' track, 'cakewalk' or 'roller coaster' with
what seem to be ‘never ending ups and downs’... So this year not the well
valued 'longer climbs & descents' on the gentle slopes of
The head-off is as usual: after 200m most of the runners have already
disappeared out of sight: they go ‘for the running’, I more and more for
‘enjoying the full of it’. And then arises ‘horror’: up thát hill?, but
‘there’s a simple solution to that: by deciding to walk up the hill and
wherever the track curves upwards and to take to running again where the
inclination is downwards; running should be not too tiring, isn’t it? But
meanwhile I enjoy what comes along: ‘beautiful skies and views’. Now and then I
have to negotiate my ‘right-of-way’ with passers-by, with or without dogs...
I run
'regularly', with not too much time-loss: I clock 20mins after the first lap,
41mins after the second and finish in 1hr 03min 03secs. The last 3 à 400m I run
down 'in style', I am photographed ‘as a winner' and I am not even the last
finisher this year; until the end of the second lap I have a companion
runner of Ordnance Survey, but the third lap I do all on my own, I carefully
cross the downward track to the brook in
the route; it has become somewhat slippery because of the passage of many (also
mine…) feet before me...
There was hope within the Dutch
‘team’ that maybe this year a prize might be won because of the ‘fast men’ we
have with us in different age categories, Robbert Tjoa 
(left) and
Jan van Vliet, but it doesn’t materialize, our British colleagues remain as
before untangible in all age categories., But it was only just about… Jan van
Vliet would have won in the age category of 60+ if existing, but who knows it
might be there one year as a new entry…
And we keep of course our ‘hopes high’: next year in March a few more of
our ‘cracks’ will try to give the then visiting British good competition again
in the dunes or in the
Many of the Dutch flew ‘back home’ the same (Wednesday) evening and missed
so the conviviality later that evening with Gerry and ‘his people’. For me
there was already the message on arrival by Eurostar that due to a planned
strike of the Belgian Railways there would be no chance to return home on
Thursday. With the ‘annoying consequence’ that I would have to stay on an extra
day in
Many regards, Niek Tetteroo