The Batavierenrace, which was to held on 28 April 2001, has been cancelled. The Foot and Mouth crisis in the Netherlands also wipes the world's largest relay race off the map. The organising committee (from Nijmegen and Enschede) had to inform the 7,000 participants and the hundreds of other people involved of this fact last week.
The outlook had been sombre for a while, but in the beginning of last week one negative advice after another came in. The race was not actually banned, but the responses from the municipalities involved changed last week from 'rather not' to 'please don't'. When negative advice came from the Board of Governors from both Nijmegen and the University of Twente on Monday and Tuesday, as well as an appeal from the regional agricultural organisation, the matter was settled: we will have to wait a year for the 29th edition of the Batavierenrace.
Two Bata-committee members from Twente inspected the course last week by car. 'You drove from blockade to blockade, from one decontamination tray to another', Mark Ahrendt sketcheds the desolate situation in the rural areas. 'If you see that you are sure. We do not want to be the possible cause of even more grief to the farmers.
The closing party on 28 April has also been cancelled. The bands-festival will go ahead, and there is a modest party in Vrijhof and Vestingbar. The Bata-committee will distribute information by e-mail and letter as soon as possible. The latest news will be on its site: www.batavierenrace.nl.
