Passionate win at Dutch university race

Both Nereus and Groningen boated their share of Dutch national team athletes. Nereus included Robert Lucken (Dutch men’s eight), Vincent van der Want (Dutch men’s eight), Boaz Meylink (Dutch men’s eight), Dirk Uittenbogaard (under-23 men’s single) and coxswain Arco de Vries. The Groningen crew, Gyas, was made up of Jan Willem Gabriels (silver medallist, Athens Olympics), Rogier Blink (Dutch men’s eight, Beijing), Nanne Sluis (Dutch men’s eight) and Joris Pijs (under-23 single).

This is the Dutch version of Great Britain’s Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race and the main race is between men’s coxed fours. The race dates back to 1878 when just two universities raced. There are now about 21 university rowing clubs that compete and the day of racing begins with heats raced over a 2000m distance. The final, featuring the top seven boats, begins at 5pm and covers a 3000m distance. 

The Varsity is the most important race for Dutch university student rowers and, according to organiser Daniel Paarlberg, a rowing career is not complete without a Varsity gold. 

“Pim Vos gave away his World Championship medal to his coach Jan Klerks. When Jan said that he couldn't accept it because it was Pim's most beautiful medal, Pim declared: 'I'll keep my most beautiful medal myself,’ referring to his Varsity gold. The difference is that you win the Olympics or World Championships for yourself, but The Varsity you win for your club.”

The event is held on the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal, close to Utrecht and more than 5000 spectators lined the banks of the canal using the big screen and on-course commentators to follow the race, or they biked alongside the leading boats. 

In typical Dutch fashion, a large number of supporters swam out to greet the winning Nereus team at the end of the race, braving eight degree temperatures to congratulate the team. Some had taken to the water before the race had finished which caused the umpires to issue warnings. The Nereus boat then sank due to the large amount of swimmers.

Nereus has won the most number of races overall now with 38 wins of the 128 races, but there has been a six-year gap since Nereus last won. A five-year winning streak by the Rotterdam crew is now broken with Rotterdam finishing seventh this year. 

Paarlberg noted that normally the first two to three boats have at least some national team athletes on the crew, as was the case this year. 

For video footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPvcODamVZQ

Results :
NER Nereus 10:01,76 (1)
GYA Gyas 10:07,88 (2)
LAG Laga 10:11,35 (3)
TRI Triton 10:14,73 (4)
AEG Aegir 10:22,74 (5)
ORC Orca 10:37,04 (6)
SKA Skadi 10:50,09 (7)