“It was touch and go whether we'd have enough team members to take part,” tells Jordi Klarenbeek, treasurer of the Eindhoven Student Sports Federation. The TU/e-Fontys team struggled with a remarkably high number of dropouts this year. Klarenbeek: “Various athletes had injuries and some runners gave priority to their athletics competition on the Sunday after the 'Bata'. Combining the two isn't really an option. Of the four dropouts we still had, we were able to replace three last week. Being that one runner short cost us penalty time.”

By contrast, Team Eindhoven secured an admirable fourth place in the general class. As well as Team Eindhoven, a selection of runners from Fontys and TU/e, close on twenty other Eindhoven teams took part in the general class. According to Klarenbeek, the participants from Eindhoven had a ‘really enjoyable weekend’. “The organizers managed to give it a great party atmosphere, with a large camp site, fun party tents, and a bar in the library.”

Groningen won the university class this year, followed by Nijmegen, and the team from Enschede came third. The (provisional) results are online. Last year the TU/e-Fontys team came sixth in the university competition and Team Eindhoven achieved second place.

Some 8500 students took part this year in the relay race over 175 kilometers from Nijmegen to Enschede. The teams also ran at night. Eindhoven was well represented with some twenty local teams taking part, each with about 25 students.

The photo shows various participants from Eindhoven.