The longest relay race in the world

The race is unique for several reasons: a mixture of competition and socializing, the struggle against logistical chaos, and running partially in the dark - the race begins at midnight on the Friday, April 27 and finishes the next day. The history of the relay goes back to 1972, when students from Nijmegen came back from a competition in Sweden with the idea of organizing a similar event in the Netherlands. As a route, they chose to Nijmegen to Rotterdam, part of the path of the Germanic Batavian tribe, an ancestral Dutch people who sailed on the Rhine 50 years before Christ. The route was later (starting in 1974) redirected towards Enschede because of infrastructural issues. The total number of participants has increased since the first race from 575 to over 7,500 in 2006.

Dutch students as well as international students are welcome in the race. Several international UT students are among this year's participants. 21-year-old Karin Magnusson was born in Norway to a Dutch mother and a Swedish father. She is in her third year of study in the Netherlands, beginning with physiotherapy at the Saxion hogeschool; she is now following the pre-master's Health and Science program at the UT.

What got you interested in participating?
`A girl at the athletic track told me about the race. I thought it had to be the most chaotic relay race ever from her description! I was right in the idea that the race is chaotic, but somehow there is a system. I think it has something unique. For most of the teams, performance is not important; they join to have a nice time. This creates a different atmosphere than regular running competitions.'

Are you a runner?
`I have been running for many years. I used to compete on the track, but it is so hard on my legs and I always get injuries. Now I run more in the forest and join more street races.'

What team are you running for?
`The official UT team / De Woonplaats, sponsored by De Woonplaats, Xsens Technologies, and the Running Center.'

(Note from team manager, Kurt Peek: `The university competition was born in 1994, after the first team bearing its university name, the UT-Kronosteam, won the Batavierenrace in 1993. It was an immediate success, and now all 13 Dutch universities send a delegation of their fastest runners to this increasingly competitive and prestigious varsity. Last year, Wageningen University won the university competition, beating the Rijksuniveristeit Groningen by only 24 seconds. The prize for the winning team is 25 training suits).

What kind of training have you been doing?
`I have done a lot of running, of course, as much as my heel spur allows me to. When it doesn't, I take roller skates and ski poles. People stare, laugh, and ask why I use the poles. In Norway we have lots of snow in the winter and I love to go cross-country skiing. I use the sticks to get it to be more like that. Cross-country skiing is nice because you train your whole body and get a natural change between work and rest. I don't think Dutch people like cross-country. When they think of skiing, they think of alpine skiing. Alpine skiing is lazy; you should walk those hills yourself! Then you get as strong as a bear!'

Are you excited or nervous?
`Both. I love to run and the Batavierenrace is a nice day with lots of happy running students; I am a bit nervous because the UT team has prepared very well and people expect us to do a good job.'

Good luck to Karin and her team members this weekend!