Top Dutch runner Kamiel Maase retires – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS

Kamiel Maase, The Netherlands' top men's long distance runner for the last decade, has decided to call it a day and retire from international running at the age of 37.

Maase won the silver medal at the 2001 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and he is also the holder of the Dutch 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon records – with times of 13:13.06, 27:26.29 and 2:08.21 respectively.

"Since the Athens Olympics in 2004, I have had to cope with many injuries.  The injuries have been very frustrating and have forced me to stop running and start building up over and over again. It has been quite a struggle," reflected Maase.

He ran his last major race at the Egmond Half Marathon on January 11, a race he'd won in 2001 and 2006 but on this occasion he had to settle for eighth place.

"That's the difference between four weeks training and four months in training. After running the marathon in Beijing, I had been troubled by an a

Achilles injury but I wanted to say goodbye to all my Dutch fans and supporters," said Maase.

Maase was a stalwart of the Dutch team at almost every major championship since he made his international debut in 1993.

In addition to his silver medal at the 2001 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, the Leiden runner who possesses a post-graduate degree in micro-biology also won the 1997 World University Games 10,000m title.

However, his lack of medals from international events, owing to an acknowledged lack of another gear at the end of a tactical championship race, is a scant testimony to his talent.

Perhaps his best year came in 2003, when he was the first European home in the World Championships 10,000m and later that year broke Ger Nijboer's 23-year-old Dutch marathon record with a time of 2:08:31.

He improved that mark by 10 seconds to its current standard in 2007.

Maase wore the famous orange vest at the last three European Athletics Championships, the last three Olympic Games, competed in the SPAR European Cross Country Championships eight times, won the Dutch cross country title eight times and competed at the World Cross Country Championships six times.

However, out of all the many events he has competed in, the strikingly tall 1.90m Maase says that his favourite race is the European Cup 10,000m, in which he ran five times and finished third on two occasions.

Now that he has retired, Maase will be turning his attention to other matters as he and his wife Claartje are expecting their first child in April.