Night Shift
Before the runners of the night shift left for their stages, they had some time to kill in Nijmegen. What better way to do that than to play some cards?
The 51st Batavierenrace was started by Job Reurink and Domingos, who both ran very well first stages! Job had an average pace of 18.34km/h (which turned out to be the fastest average pace of anyone from Team Eindhoven), and Domingos ran 17.36km/h on average. With this, they finished 3rd and 17th on this stage respectively!
The second stage was run by Kevin (not yet a member of Asterix, but we’re trying 😉 ), and Hessel. Kevin ran the 7.3km stage in 16.58km/h, and Hessel ran it in 12.00km/h.
Next up were Matthijs and Stijn. Matthijs did not have a light, and he commented that it was very dark. He is eternally thankful for Michiel (the cyclist of the night shift) and his light, as well as Michiel’s screaming to the other teams that Matthijs was coming through! Matthijs ran the 4th fastest time overall, in 17.70km/h on average. Stijn, after being very busy with the preparations of the Bata in the committee, ran the stage in 11.83km/h.
Next up was the first women’s stage, where we had Sanne and Merel B run. Sanne ran the 5th time overall, and Merel ran the 105th time overall. At this point, Team Eindhoven was in 5th place for the university standings, and Team Asterix was in 56th.
The next stage was the second-longest stage of 9.9km, run by Finn and Tom. It could be clearly seen that they together for many years, as their times differed by only 1 second! Tom had the fastest time in that stage, and Finn had the second fastest time. With these performances, Team Eindhoven was suddenly 4th, and Team Asterix 20th!
Next up for Team Eindhoven were Lennert, Adomas and Carmen: which is a very strong combo, asthey ran the 2nd, 2nd and 1st fastest in their respective stages!
For Team Asterix, we had Sem, Tom and Bram, where Bram had to run the stage intended for the women.
In the last stage for the night shift, both Meike’s ran, with Meike Vermeulen running the 4th fastest overall!
Morning Shift
The runners of the morning shift gathered at the track at 20:00, after leaving for the scouting in Ulft. There, sleeping went awesome with only about 2 people snoring, and a good 4 to 5 hours of sleep!
Then, after getting their IDs checked and after some well-deserved coffee, Vincent started the morning shift with his race. He wanted to run his stage of 5.5km in under 20 minutes, in which he succeeded! Bjorn ran for Team Asterix, and even though he is a technical athlete, he managed to run very well with 40th place overall.
After Vincent, we had three women in a row with Chloé, Kate and Joanne running the 6th, 5th and 6th best times of their shifts respectively. For Team Asterix, Sophie, Merel and Eva ran these stages.
Next up was Rafał, who was added to the team only a few days before the race because of an injury with Uko. Rafał proved that he was a worthy substitute, running the 5th time in his 7.7km stage. Maron ran for Team Asterix, and he did so very well in his first ever bata.
Maron was not the only one running his first bata, as Noud is also a first-year student! He managed to run the third-longest stage of the bata in an average of 17.95km/h, which was the second fastest overall in his stage! In the coming years, Team Eindhoven will surely benefit a lot from Noud! Ju-Young had the honor of running this stage for Team Asterix.
The last two stages of the morning shift were run by Allard and Lorens, who both ran the 5th time overall on their stages. For Team Asterix, these stages were run by Boudewijn and Gijs.
While Lorens was preparing for his shift, he went with Arne and Tim to buy some strawberries at the shop of some farmer next to the course. Before tasting them, they attempted to make an album cover.
After the finish of the morning shift, people had to be transported to Enschede. There was a catch: Maron’s car still had to be retrieved from the changing area of his shift. Lorens and Noud drove Maron there, after which they went to Enschede. It was quite the adventure!
Afternoon Shift
The afternoon shift had the luck that the weather was quite okay: plenty of sun, and finally a hint of spring!
To start of the afternoon shift, Jules ran his 9.2km shift in 16.57km/h, after which Jordi followed his 7.2km shift in 17.69km/h and 3rd place overall. For Team Asterix, these stages were run by Arjan (from the ESSF) and Stefan in 11.82 and 13.98km/h respectively.
Next up we had Nastia, who ran the 4th fastest time on her shift. At this point it was pretty clear that Team Eindhoven would finish in 4th, given that the teams ahead had a lead of more than 15 minutes. For Team Asterix, Iris ran. After her stage, the team was in 31st place.
The 21st stage was run by Robin. It was his first bata, and he did great with an overall 6th place on his stage. He is also not yet a member of Asterix, but we’ll keep trying ;). Trainer Rik ran for Team Asterix.
Then we had Tim de Wild, who ran the longest stage of the 51st Batavierenrace: 10.7km in total! After all his work in the committee, he also managed to run very well with an average of 16.72km/h. Ramon was chosen to run the longest stage for Team Asterix. After his holiday to the Philippines, he complained a bit about his form, but he still managed to run the 16th time overall in 15.83km/h!
The next two stages were again run by women: Rianne ran the 23rd stage with the 3rd fastest time overall, and Mila ran the second-to-last stage with the 4th time overall! For Team Asterix, these stages were run by Arne (who took over a women’s stage) and Audrey. Audrey finished in style in a very French way!
The very last stage was run by Job Dijkstra for Team Eindhoven, who was also a last-minute substitute. He did well, with an average pace of 16.82km/h! Tim Burger ran for Team Asterix, and he was dressed up as Asterix! The resemblance was striking!
After the finish, the committee arranged for some Chinese food, which was well-received by the hungry runners! Finally, the notorious Bata-party took place!
After a good night’s rest (for most in tents, some in the gym), it was time to go home. We are already looking forward to next year!