This month we get to know Ramon a little bit better. He has been a member for almost five years and is always present at the track ánd at the KIX. He is graduating this summer as a Mechanical Engineering after almost a year of working on his thesis. He got distracted from studying sometimes to work-out with his fellow Gauls and of course to drink some nice beers in the sun. But the diploma is almost in sight and he already has a nice job lined up.
“I started at Asterix in with only a few weeks running experience. The first few months the track trainings were way too intense for the legs of a beginner though. It took quite some time to get used to the trainings. I started to do my first 5K and 10K races with Asterix and every year I got a bit faster and eventually I was able to run the 5K in in slightly over 17 minutes. I discovered I was better suited for middle distance when I tried out 1500m and 800m races in my board year and in two track seasons managed to get times from 4:40 down to 4:15 on the 1500m and 2:15 down to 2:03 on the 800m.”
Ramon’s highlight was definitely the 4:15 1500m last year! In his last track race of the year everything felt right and it was the best race he’d ever run. Even though he had never felt so dead after a race. Fun fact: He was standing on the starting line next to one of the 4x400m gold medalist, Tony van Diepen, unfortunately he couldn’t keep up with him though. Ramon has gotten a lot faster and stronger the past year, so naturally, we were very curious what his work-out routine is. “I train about six or seven times per week, just trying to do something every day for at least 30 minutes. Some days the track trainings, some days a strength training with Jelle or other Gauls and sometimes just a short run and some core.”
Ramon is also very active in the non-athletic world of Asterix. He is a member of HoefNIX! But what does that mean? “HoefNIX was an idea from a couple of guys who were always a bit ‘enthusiastic’ during the monthly drinks and other parties of Asterix and thought there weren’t enough opportunities to drink together yet. About two years ago HoefNIX became an official ‘dispuut’ of Asterix during the Asterix ALV and there is even a HoefNIX board. The members have purple jackets and a new member receives one meter of beer (11 beers) in the KIX which they are encouraged to finish during one evening. Did you know that Casper holds the unofficial and maybe also undesirable record of finishing the meter in ~28 minutes? Once they have finished this, usually, the aspiring members get offered a glass full of shots by our ‘Druïde’, and having finished that they can really say they are HoefNIX members! HoefNIX has added a few members the last two years, including several girls as it is for all Asterix members who like parties and ‘gezelligheid’ next to the trainings a lot. There used to be monthly activities which were optional, however you could occasionally be called ‘Sjaak’ if you didn’t come to the activity.”
Because of the poor time management of the interviewer and the delay in publication, we decided to extend Ramon’s moment of fame to athlete of the summer!
By: Annelies Becker