Student association SSRE processed approximately 460 paid registrations. Registration packages included sunglasses, a white T-shirt, a sweatband, and a small bag of powder. Still, most bags are gone even before the start of the run, emptied on friends, fathers, daughters of perfect strangers.

Although about 23 percent of the participants is an SSRE member and the majority of runners is comprised of students, all ages are represented at the start. That was exactly what the organizing committee had aimed at: it was to be an Eindhoven event.

The sun is still out when the race starts in front of the Auditorium at 6PM. Kilometer by kilometer, T-shirts are becoming less pristine. Unavoidable powder clouds cause contestants to sneeze, accelerate or happily jump around. Volunteers empty buckets of powder containing different colors. After having passed five ‘powder points’ and finishing the five-kilometer run, white T-shirts are a thing of the past and faces have become unrecognizable. 

After the run, people can buy more powder. And the organization encourages everyone to do so, because it will intensify the ‘powder explosions’ at the after party. Dj Wouter van Slobbe and Kespa provide the uplifting house music that builds up to a climax: the moment the colors are thrown into the air. It happens four more times. By the end of the night, buckets that hadn’t been emptied at either of the ‘powder points’ during the run are passed around. Everyone is free to grab a handful. Protect your beer, put your sunglasses back on, and repeat: it’s the ultimate color explosion.