Again this year, the Deinze (BE) Half Triathlon will be my last competitive race in the run up to the World Championship in Hawaii. The race in Deinze this year also figures as the Half Triathlon Belgian Championship, which of course makes it extra special. I already won the Belgian Championship Olympic distance in 2002 and 2005, and in 2010 I was crowned Belgian 1/2 Triathlon Champion. Hence, this is a unique opportunity for me to win my fourth Belgian title, on the home turf of my main sponsors. Most of the race takes place on the banks of the river Leie, my favourite place in Belgium to train.

After IRONMAN Frankfurt, I took a short break before preparing for the IRONMAN World Championship. Twice I trained abroad, on Fuerteventura (Playitas Resort) and in the Gerona region (ESP), whilst meanwhile I took part as a guest in the Brainbike event in Stowe Mountain (VT, USA) representing Cervélo, and in the new race in Maastricht for a couple of days as IRONMAN Ambassador.

After Deinze, I will continue to train in Belgium for a short while. The way we prepared for South Africa earlier this year really worked, so I plan to stick to a very similar routine getting ready for the race in Hawaii. As always, I will first have a training stop in Phoenix, Arizona (USA) before travelling on to Hawaii. The World Championship this year takes place on Saturday October 10th, just short of 8 weeks or 50 days from now.

No less than 5 Belgian triathletes of the Oil Service team will appear at the start on ‘The Big Island’ this year. Everyone is beaming with pride of course, and we are looking forward to this event with great anticipation!