The Nijmegen Four Days Marches is coming to an end. Almost 6800 people from Brabant took part in the last stage, which for the most part went through Brabant. Many of them have already picked up their crosses.
The Four Days Marches passed through Cuijk, among others. There, the hikers crossed the Maas via a specially constructed pontoon. From Cuijk it was still a fifteen kilometer walk before the bunch of gladiolus could be received at that finish.
“He has trained well and I am proud of that.”
The festive entry has been going on for hours on Friday, because the first participants had already arrived at nine o’clock in the morning.
The party will continue for a while in Nijmegen. The Four Days Marches runners who have yet to enter are also welcomed along the kilometre-long final route with marching music and applause. There are more than 100,000 spectators along those roads on Friday.
It has been a coming and going of participants in Nijmegen all day long. Among them are Daan van Lieshout (42) and his son Fern (13) from Someren. Together they crossed the finish line on Friday, panting and puffing. For Fern this is the first time, but Daan has more experience with the Four Days Marches.
Daan will not forget one edition in particular: the one in 2006, when Fern was still a spectator watching his father cross the finish line to pick up that coveted cross.
“Then I said to my son, ‘When you’re 12, we’ll walk it ourselves.’ Well, that ended up being 13 years old,” the father laughs, “but now we’re still doing it. Fantastic, isn’t it? Fern trained well. I’m proud of that.”
“It’s nice not to have to walk alone.”
Fern says he couldn’t have done it without his father. “It’s more fun than I thought and it’s nice not to have to walk alone,” concludes the 13-year-old, now on his way to the place where the medals are awarded.
He is of course not the only one. More than 35,000 walkers crossed the finish line on the so-called Via Gladiola on Friday. That sounds like a big number, yet there are fewer than other years on the last day.
This is because there were significantly fewer registrations, possibly due to fears of corona infections. What also plays a major role, of course, is that there was one day less on Tuesday this year due to the extreme heat.
The board of Stichting De 4Daagse is nevertheless satisfied with the progress of the 104th edition. March leader Henny Sackers called it ‘fantastic to experience another arrival after three years’ on Friday.
It was also Sackers who, on the advice of his team of experts, decided on Sunday to cancel the first hiking day on Tuesday due to extreme temperatures. “A unique and historic moment, never happened before,” he concluded on Friday.
ALSO READ: Brabant Day in the Four Days Marches: walkers on their way to Nijmegen