Steep slides, rubber tyres, and ropes were all brought out as usual for the Bastille assault. As one doegroup after another sets off, students Ole Overeem and Vedder Ganzevles still have to wait their turn. ‘This is the ideal way to wake up and recover from last night’, says Overeem. ‘We are not doing a reconnaissance lap. We’ll just see what we encounter.’
Both men have a plan. ‘Don’t go overboard and don’t run too fast. I just heard from the group that the main tactic is to stick together. It’s all about teamwork’, says Ganzevles.
Crawling, showering, push-ups
There is no chance of taking it easy and strolling through the obstacle course. Further along the course, things are anything but relaxed. One group is crawling through the mud. The most enthusiastic participants are the first to emerge from underneath the obstacle.
‘I don’t know what else is waiting for us, but I think we’ve got the dirtiest part behind us’, says one student, covered from head to toe in mud.
There is a collective sigh of relief when the next obstacle comes into view: sprinklers, giving the participants a quick rinse. ‘Oh, a nice shower’, someone says.
But they are in for a surprise. Before long, they are being pushed to their limits with push-ups and jumping jacks. The students motivate each other to keep going and make it to the finish line.
Those who cross the finish line first are exhausted but happy. They have completed the infamous Bastille assault. One of them is South African first-year student Hughan Crouse: ‘Now it’s time for a shower and then a nice cold Coke.’ His fellow student, meanwhile, is still buzzing with adrenaline: ‘I hope we get another round.’
