Batavierenrace
The Batavierenrace ( German Batavier race ) is one of the largest relay races in the world with around 8,500 participating students . Around 185 kilometers are covered between Nijmegen and Enschede , divided into 25 stages. The biggest Dutch student festival always takes place in Enschede in the evening: the Batavierenfeest.
The route starts at the sports center of Radboud University Nijmegen , then goes through Germany, the Achterhoek , the city center of Enschede and ends on the campus of the University of Twente .
The race is organized every year by students in Nijmegen and Enschede. Over the weekend they will be supported by around 500 volunteers.
The race
The approximately 185 km of the Batavierenrace are divided into 25 stages, which vary in length from 3.4 km to 11.9 km. After the opening, the race in Nijmegen will start at midnight. Large parts of the race therefore also take place at night.
Every runner has a companion on the bike with them. This companion must also show the way. Each runner has a vest that serves as a relay stick. A chip with which the time can be measured is also incorporated into this vest. With this chip you can follow the race and the times on the internet.
There are six different groups to better register the time. In addition, there are three points where the race will be restarted: in Dinxperlo (6:30 to 8:00), Barchem (11:00 to 12:30) and on the Oude Markt in Enschede (17:00 –5: 8 pm). Each team therefore also has a night, morning and afternoon team.
The final is on the career path of the University of Twente . Most teams then use their best runners. At 5:30 p.m., thousands of spectators await the runners on campus.
The teams are completely different and come from all over the Netherlands, including from abroad. There are teams of friends, student associations, sports clubs, etc. Another important factor is the university ranking, in which the various universities compete against each other.
history
The Batavierenrace has existed since 1973. Students from Nijmegen had seen a comparable relay race in Sweden - the Solastafette from Gothenburg to Karlstad (1967–1998) - and wanted to introduce something like this in the Netherlands as well.
In the first year the race went from Nijmegen to Rotterdam. This is where the name comes from: The Batavians were a Germanic tribe that lived there in Roman times. But there were too many problems with the infrastructure in Rotterdam, so the race was allowed to run to Enschede just a year later. The route from 1974 has hardly changed since then.
See also
- SOLA relay in Switzerland
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wereldrecord, mooie race en veel rain , UT Nieuws.