On Sunday morning, former Olympic and world champion open water swimming Maarten van der Weijden was welcomed by the public amid loud applause in the Prinsentuin in Leeuwarden.
Just before 9 a.m., Van der Weijden reached the Prinsentuin in Leeuwarden. Minutes of applause followed and ‘Maarten Dank’ was sung. A number of people couldn’t keep it dry, including Maarten’s wife, when Elske DeWall sang a song unamplified with recurring lyrics ‘Hold on, hold on, if only for a while’
The 42-year-old swimmer originally planned to finish on Saturday, but due to exhaustion he decided to spend the night in Dokkum. From there he began the last leg of his journey early Sunday morning. During his journey he received a lot of encouragement and people joined him to walk a bit.
Eleven Cities Triathlon
Maarten van der Weijden started his extreme Elfsteden triathlon at the beginning of last Sunday to raise as much money as possible for cancer research. The top athlete completed the route of more than 200 kilometers first by swimming, then cycling and finally walking.
It was reported in the Prinsentuin that the counter has now almost passed 1.9 million euros. This amount will be doubled by main sponsor Reggeborgh, so that more than 3.7 million euros have now been collected. Maarten van de Weijden: ,,I actually feel fine. That was partly due to all the support along the way and the stories he heard, that kept me going.
,,What are you going to do now Maarten” – ,,Let’s go home”. ,,But on Wednesday I will be back in Friesland. Then I will be in the theater of Gorredijk.”