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Batavierenrace: Will we break our world record this year?

This year, the biggest relay race in the world will be held on 10 and 11 May 2019. Every year since 1973, 8500 students run from the centre of Nijmegen, via Germany and the Achterhoek region, to the campus of the University of Twente in Enschede. The Batavierenrace is a relay race of 175 kilometres in total, organised by and for students. Every year, the Batavierenrace ends with the biggest student party in the Benelux countries.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Batavierenrace of 28 April 2012 was the biggest relay race in the world, with 8509 participants. With 370 registered teams for this year's 47th edition, an attempt will be made to beat this record. So far, an estimated 8650 people will be participating, so we are hopeful that we can beat the record!

The Race

To participate in the Batavierenrace, a team leader enters a team of 25 runners. There are 16 stages for male team members and 9 for female team members. The stages are spread over three parts of the day; there are night, morning and afternoon stages. At least three members of each team must be enrolled with a university. This ensures that the Batavierenrace truly remains an event for students. In addition to students from all parts of the Netherlands, there are also a number of international teams from Germany, Belgium and England.

BATA4LIFE

Bata4life has been in existence since the 41st edition of the Batavierenrace. In cooperation with the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), Bata4life lets teams and participants raise funds in support of this cancer research charity. The funds raised are donated to KWF and are used to fund cancer research at various universities in the Netherlands.

New Developments

This year, there are some new concepts that offer participants some extras. A camping shop will be set up at the campus of the University of Twente. In this champing shop participants can buy items they forgot or lost or that are damaged. The shop offers a wide range of products: from tents and sleeping bags to can openers, dice and sun cream. For really lazy students it is even possible to order products in advance, so they do not need to bring their tent all the way from Groningen or Maastricht. What is especially great is that all of the profits will be donated to Bata4life. A special product, which is also for sale in the camping shop, is the Bata-sock. This year, limited-edition Bata-socks will be for sale for the first time. In addition to socks, other items of clothing will also be widely available during the Batavierenrace. This year, a clothing webshop was set up in collaboration with the Eurosport Borne printing company. Via this webshop, teams can buy printed clothing for the whole team at student prices.

For more information, for image material, or for a great interview, please contact PR & Media Commissioner Nienke Nooren. Batavierenrace attn Nienke Nooren Bastille, Room 334 De Hems 10, PO Box 217 7522 NL Enschede 053-4893787 / 06-37303083

drs. J.G.M. van den Elshout (Janneke)
Press relations (available Mon-Fri)