Euro Cross Country Championships - Pre-race Press Conference
- 09 December 2005
- Bob Ramsak
TILBURG, Netherlands – Sunday’s 12th European Cross Country Championships will be the 12th for Sergey Lebed, the 12th for Anja Smolders of Belgium, the 12th for British journalist and statistician Mark Butler, and the second for me. And after just a few hours here, I already sense that there’s a pattern quickly emerging from my very limited experience with these championships.
Last year, just getting there was a chore: a 5:55 a.m. train from Slovenia's port city of Koper to Ljubljana, an early afternoon flight to Berlin Schoenefeld, a short train ride to Berlin’s main station, then onward by train for another three hours through an oftentimes stark east German landscape to the Baltic resort town of Heringsdorf. It was off-season, and when I arrived at my hotel, The Esplanade, just before midnight, scenes from “The Shining” came to mind. There was a thin blanket of snow covering the ground, the hotel was officially closed for the season, the streets were empty, the doors were locked, and not the dimmest light was shimmering. I had to hunt down someone from another nearby hotel to get my keys, let me in, turn on the heat and connect my phone line. 
Today, the getting there part began at 4:18 a.m. when my alarm rattled me awake less than four hours after I closed my eyes. My 5:10 airport shuttle showed up 5:30, and I got to Ljubljana’s Brnik Airport at just after 6:30 for my 7:15 flight. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, we had just over an hour to wkill before our bus would take us to Tilburg, long enough to get to know Slovenia’s Vid Tršan, the lone member of this year’s Slovenian team. The 18-year-old is a middle distance specialist, with a 1:52 best in the 800 and an 8:36 in the 3000 to his credit, so he won’t be challenging for a podium spot here. He didn’t know what to expect, but he was enthused about his first Euro cross appearance.
When the flights delivering the Finns and Romanians arrived, we left for the two-hour bus ride towards Tilburg, first to the sprawling hotel complex in nearby Veldhoven, a former monastery, where the athletes were being housed for the weekend, then onward to the media hotel, The Mercure, in the center of Tilburg, some 35 kilometers away. [A few days ago, the LOC informed me that I was bumped up to the more expensive Mercure, citing a lack of space in the cheaper hotel. I was also informed, regarding the extra 84 euros that would appear on my bill: “Please note that additional room costs are at your own expense.”]
With a population of just over 200,000 Tilburg is the sixth largest city in Holland, with solid working class roots stemming from the textile trade. Tilburg has the orderliness one expects in Holland, the well-kept streets, the efficient public transport, the wide and well-marked bicycle lanes. There's plenty of shops and restaurants, and the typical pedestrian malls where one can buy virtually anything –except something made in Holland. There were even a few pockets of old world charm. But that hardly sets this city apart from virtually any European mid-sized or larger city that has evolved with the times. My immediate impression was one of disappointment.
While Tilburg seems rather typical, Heringsdorf had little, if anything, in common with its immediate surroundings. The entire town, from its turn-of-the-last-century hotels and spas, to gift shops, cafes, restaurants and bars, was eerily white-washed, more so resembling a Hollywood back lot than a preconceived notion of what an eastern German city should look like. Very little appeared to be, well, real. My immediate impression was one of disillusionment. (That later turned into a casual indifference with one absolute certainty: I would never go back there again.)
Here in Tilburg, a thick fog descended on the city in late afternoon, blanketing the town through the evening. Maybe that obscured my rather disheartening view of things. Or, maybe I just should have accepted what the opening paragraph --yes, the Introduction!-- of a visitor's brochure I received had to say:
"When I used to think about Tilburg," the city's mayor Ruud Vreeman, writes, "I couldn't really picture it. The city lacks a clearly defined image."
No argument there. I'm still having trouble picturing it. Maybe the fog will lift tomorrow.
