For many athletes, the cross season is the ideal preparation for the track. Marit Griep (21) sees cross-country racing as the most beautiful time of the year. The Oosterhout native enjoys running on unpaved terrain and can show himself at the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal on Sunday, December 14. “When there is mud everywhere, I am extra happy.”
Running is her passion, but her heart beats fastest when the temperatures drop and the track is exchanged for rougher surfaces during the cross.
“It cannot be compared. On the track you are concerned with time, in a cross you run for your place,” says the athlete. “The course is more versatile. You don’t just run laps, but you encounter something different every time. Personally, I do well on mud and hills. In Lagoa, Portugal, there is mainly a lot of sand and curves. It is difficult to prepare for that, because you never know how things will go. But I wouldn’t mind if it rains heavily.”
As a child, Griep started at ATV Scorpio in her hometown of Oosterhout like all her peers for the all-around. Then she focused on running, her favorite part. In recent years, her development as an athlete of Running Team Brabant in Vught has been rapid. It was not without reason that she was allowed to participate in the European Championship under 23 this year. She especially likes the longer distances of 5,000 and 10,000.
“My ambition is to become a doctor.”
She finds it difficult to say where her ceiling lies. What she does know is that she does not aspire to a full-time sports career for the time being. “I am studying Medicine in Rotterdam, my ambition is to become a doctor in the future. I don’t know what yet, I will investigate that. The study can be easily combined with top sports. It is also nice not to be completely focused on one thing.”
In any case, at the dining table in the Griep house, it is often about running. Very often. Not surprising, because her sister Lotte and brothers Boris and Jort also put on their running shoes almost every day. She trains together in Vught with Lotte and Boris.
“Do I ever have to give tips? Not so much in the tactical field, but we do talk about, for example, which spike tips we should put under the shoes,” says the eldest of the four children. “I like that we share the same passion. And so do my parents, they are always there when we have to walk.”
Brabanders
A total of 21 Dutch athletes are participating in the European Cross County Championships. Among them are Emmy van den Berg (23) from Vught and the brothers Robin (25) and Rick van Riel (23) from Tilburg.
