The 41st Batavierenrace, an annual student relay race over 175 km, was organized in the weekend of the 27th of April in the Netherlands. The RU/HAN Team of Nijmegen has won the 41st edition of the Batavierenrace. The winners completed the 175 kilometers in 10 hours and 27 minutes, followed by the teams of the TU/e-Fontys team Eindhoven and the University of Wageningen. The Impalas from England were the fastest international team. 

Apart from the local and national participants, 11 international teams took part from Germany, Norway, Slovenia, Great Britain, Belgium and France, totaling 8.463 participants. The organization looks back at a very successful race. Hester de Vries, one of the race officials, stated: “We look back at a great race, with perfect weather to run for the athletes. The Organizing Committee made it possible for everyone to enjoy the smoothly organized race with their team!”

The Batavierenrace has its roots in Sweden. A couple of students from the Netherlands participated in the SOLA relay race in Sweden and decided to organize a similar event in the Netherlands. Inspired by the Batavians, who sailed down the Rhine in 50 B.C., they named their race the Batavierenrace. In 1973 the first edition was held, which led from Nijmegen to Rotterdam. Because of infrastructural problems they decided to change the route from ‘Nijmegen - Rotterdam’ to ‘Nijmegen-Enschede’ in 1974, but maintained the name. Since 1974, the route has barely changed. What did change is the number of participants: from 575 in 1973 to almost 8500 in 2013.

In total, 350 teams can participate in the Batavierenrace. With 25 participants per team, the number of participants is around 8.500 per year. With this number of participants, the Batavierenrace is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records with “most participants in a relay race”. The race starts at the University Sports center in Nijmegen and goes trough Germany, the Achterhoek and Enschede. The race finishes in Enschede at the campus of the University of Twente. After the race there is the possibility to celebrate the personal victory at Europe’s biggest student party; the Batavierenparty!

The route is divided into 25 stages, of which 17 are men’s and 8 are women’s stages. The length of these stages varies from 2.9 to 10.4 km, with the entire route of the Batavierenrace covering 172 km. Every runner is guided by a cyclist and the teams transport themselves from relay point to relay point with a minivan. Using a self-developed time registration system, every runner can see their time upon arrival and all the fans can receive the times directly via internet or via an app on their phone. 

The University competition is the professional classification of the race. In this competition all universities of the Netherlands fight a fierce battle. The general competition is for all other teams participating in the Batavierenrace. Within the general competition there are several international teams participating.

The Batavierenrace is annually organized by students from different universities and universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. The organization takes up to a year and with the help of several committees (former students) in that period and the 600 volunteers during the event itself it is the greatest annual students sports event in the Netherlands. 

Bata4life - For the first time in the Batavierenrace history the participants raised money for a charity, The Dutch Cancer Society. Almost 9000 EUR has been raised until this moment, and the amount is about to rise in the upcoming weeks.

For more information, please see the official website of the event www.batavierenrace.com.