The Napoleon 100 km Walk Share this article
The Grand Place of Brussels is a magnificent location to start a 100km walk. Geraadsbergen, famous for its legendary Wall, is a monument in Belgian cyclist history, and a fitting place to finish the walk.
The idea was a limited participation of walkers in two groups: one group at a pace of 7 km/h (led by the Fleming Rudy Schoors) and the second group at a pace of 6.3 km/h (led by the Walloon Jean-Luc Roman). The first group counted 40 walkers and the second group 45. The walkers had to keep with their group for the first 80km, after which they could walk the last 20km at their own pace.
We had 10 stops at feeding stations during the first part, where there was plenty of drinks and nutritious foods to keep the body going. At the 52km mark, we stopped for one hour at brasserie The Nering in Beersel. Here you could eat spaghetti and change clothes and shoes if necessary.
This historic walk passed some very nice places of interest. First you had of course the old buildings of Brussels, the park of Solvay and, as one of the highlights, Waterloo Battlefield & Lion's Mound (the Lion was special lightened for the event), the Castle of Beersel, the Basilica of Halle and the Castle of Gaasbeek.
Weather conditions were very good: a cold -2°C during the night and around 8°C during the day. The walk itself was hilly with some steep, short climbs. Most of the time we walked on paved roads and some part on small tracks.
The event was successful, with only one person having to drop his pace and continue in the second group. All the participants finished the challenge. Not a surprise: the weather was ok, provision was excellent, and all the walkers were well trained and experienced.
Four 'Australian Centurions' walked the first edition of ‘The Napoleon Walk’: AU-55 Rudy Schoors, AU-56 Caroline Mestdagh, AU-60 Eddy Goeman and AU-73 Jantinus Meints. A few hours later at the other end of the globe, our Belgian friend Kim Janssens became AU-76. It was a glorious weekend for the Belgian walkers !
The promotion of ultra-walking in Belgium couldn’t be better, with all the historic places we passed through.
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