A street sweeper driving, the smell of dry beer and a caterer with a keg in his hand. While Nijmegen’s city centre is slowly preparing for the fourth day of the Four Days Marches late in the morning, the walkers have been out for hours on their first day of walking. Banners hang all over the city: “Four days of walking, seven days of partying.”
The only one who seems to take this message literally is Mark Goes. The 27-year-old accountant has an ambitious plan: to drive 200 kilometres in four days and party for seven nights. With this campaign he is raising money for the Ambulancewens Foundation. “They work day and night to fulfil the last wishes of terminally ill patients. So I thought, yes, then I can go out day and night.”
The finish line is only a few kilometres away when Goes and thousands of fellow walkers reach the Waal Bridge. Spectators cheer, dance and sing. Who released the dogs. Ten hours earlier I was here too, but with eight beers and five Bacardi Colas in my sights. “Yes, my feet hurt and it’s getting tough now. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.”
royal cross
The Nijmegen Four Days Marches are attended by 45,000 participants this year. They cover distances of thirty, forty and fifty kilometres. Those who complete the march receive the Four Days March Cross, a royal award. The Four Days Marches also attract hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout Nijmegen and the city is full of sporting and recreational events and stages.
The Four Day Marches were originally conceived as a march to keep soldiers healthy. And while most of the walkers are civilians, groups of soldiers also wave flags from more than seventy countries. There isn’t much time for chatting: most people are in a good place.
‘DISCO BOY’
This does not apply to Captain James Johnson from London, who emerges from the bushes dressed in camouflage clothing after conducting a little business. His sixteen- and seventeen-year-old cadets take off their military boots and lie down on the grass in Lent, just north of Nijmegen. “This is the first time we have taken part in the Four Days Marches, but wow! I didn’t expect there to be so much support from the people on the side.”
With every passing hour, the crowd’s support grows. On the side you can see everything: from pitched tents and picnic blankets to loudly singing middle-aged women and a young man wearing a foil hat with the letters ‘DISKO BOY’ on his chest. On the Nijmegen side, Tonnie (72) and Chris (72) van Horssen are clapping in their camping chairs, with a cup of coffee in hand. Chris: “Those people make such a great effort, it’s so thoughtful that we cheer them on.”
blood and beer
Others encourage each other. With calves that make you say “you”, Jelis Rensen and Lowie van Schenkhoff (54) walk quickly towards the city centre.Fidelity“?!” says the first one. “No, we are not getting married!” Again, loud laughter follows.
“Keep it nice and easy, that way you’ll keep your courage up,” says Van Schenkhoff, who is heading home straight after the first stage. Rensen (67) has other plans: to donate blood and then, according to his partner, to ‘throw’ fifteen beers into it. “But I just told my mother that I’ve already had seven!”
On the second day
At three o’clock in the afternoon, most of the participants are still relatively fresh at the finish line. Some are limping. The picnic tables are already full of soldiers drinking beer. Mark Goes is also in the crowd, looking for the bus to go to his grandmother in Wijchen. “He only sleeps for a few hours.” This evening another party awaits him in the city and at 3 o’clock the second walking tour through the Land van Maas en Waal.
Traditionally, the second day has the most dropouts. He doesn’t include himself in that. “I will cross the finish line on Friday. Crawling, if necessary.”
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