The Batavierenrace is a

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of Race track, racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in runni ...

organized in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

each year in May. It is a 185 km running race starting off at the

Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

and it takes the up to 8500 participants in 25 stages (16 men's stages and 9 women's stages) through

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to the

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

of the

University of Twente The University of Twente (Dutch: ''Universiteit Twente''; , abbr. ) is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...

Enschede Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...

. It was listed in 2012, in the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the relay race with the highest number of participants (8,509). On April 28 and 29, 2023 the 51st Batavierenrace will take place. Although mainly a

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

event, teams from all over the world participate. The start is at 22:30 on a Friday at the and ends late in the afternoon of Saturday. All participants wear a vest, which functions as the

baton Baton may refer to: Stick-like objects *Baton, a type of club *Baton (law enforcement) *Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts *Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people *Baton (conductin ...

and also hosts a

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...

that registers the stage times. The stages range from 3 to 10 km in length, over paved and unpaved terrain. Due to the large number of participants, the start is divided into six groups and there are four restarts along the way, at the Radboud Sports Centre, in

Ulft Ulft () is a town in Oude IJsselstreek in the Achterhoek area in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. The town has over 10,000 inhabitants and is the biggest town in the municipality Oude IJsselstreek. Until 1 January 2005, Ulft was part of ...

Barchem Barchem is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland, located in the municipality Lochem, about 15 km east of the city of Zutphen. It was first mentioned in 1474 as Borchem, and means "settlement on/near a hill". It used to be a little ag ...

and in the city centre of

. In 2017, the first stage was moved to the city center of Nijmegen due to the event's lustrum. This was so successful that it was incorporated into the next editions. As much as it is sports event, it is a social happening, with the athletes and teams ranging from highly trained to those participating "just for the fun of it". Saturday night is host to one of the largest student parties in Europe with over 10,000 visitors. The event is supported by 700 volunteers, of which around 150 motorcycle-bound traffic controllers and many students.

History

In 1972 a group of students of Nijmegen returned from the SOLA-relay in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. They were so enthusiastic about this event, that they decided to organise a similar event in the

. They chose to follow the route the

Batavians The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe that lived around the modern Dutch Rhine delta in the area that the Romans called Batavia, from the second half of the first century BC to the third century AD. The name is also applied to several milita ...

had followed some 50 years BC, descending down the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

: from Nijmegen to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In 1973 around 600 students participated in the first edition. This is the namesake for the event, but the track was moved in 1974, because organizing an event on the original course proved to pose too many infrastructural and organizational problems. Since 1974 the athletes run from Nijmegen through Germany to the campus of the University of Twente and this course has remained largely unchanged throughout the years. The prize for the winning team is a wooden Swedish horse and refers back to the SOLA-relay. The race was cancelled in 2001 due to an outbreak of

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, followe ...

in the rural area in which the race is organized. In 2020 and 2021, an online alternative race was organized due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. File:Batavierenrace 76.jpg, Participants of the 1976 edition File:Batavierenrace 76-2.jpg, 1976 participants arrive at the crowded

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

in Enschede File:Batavierenrace 76-4.jpg, 1976 participants approaching the finish line

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial website for the party
{{commons cat, Batavierenrace Long-distance relay races Student sports competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1973 1973 establishments in the Netherlands Radboud University Nijmegen University of Twente Sports competitions in Enschede Sports competitions in Nijmegen