The board of RSC de Zuidwesthoek is at a crossroads. The bicycle shed was broken into this weekend. About thirty mountain bikes are gone. The cost item: 15,000 to 20,000 euros. The cycling association is not insured. “We cannot train with the youth on Wednesday afternoon.”
Saturday morning at twelve o’clock they were still there. A whole row of mountain bikes from the Giant Talon brand. They were gone by Sunday morning. Burglars managed to get into the metal bicycle shed.
“At the back, out of sight. They cut open part of the plating with a kind of nibbler. It was a small hole but enough to remove the bicycles one by one,” says treasurer Marco van Eijkeren.
Found one bike
There are cameras at the neighboring school, but they didn’t work because it was too far away and no movement was visible. “We eventually found one bicycle, in the back of the woods, a few kilometers away. The thieves must have been with a trailer or truck. They left a few mountain bikes, they probably had no room left.”
The racing bikes, some even more expensive than the stolen mountain bikes, were left untouched. “There is probably no market for that and there is currently a lot of demand for mountain bikes,” says Van Eijkeren, who has reported it to the police. He hopes the perpetrators will be caught soon.
“I’ve already looked on Marktplaats and also notified other associations. As long as the bicycles are not returned, we have a problem. Every Wednesday afternoon, youth aged six to twelve use the bicycles. The upcoming training has been cancelled. We are looking for an alternative. Maybe we can rent bicycles. We will also talk to the municipality if they can help us. Finding sponsors in this corona time will be difficult.”
breeding pond
RSC de Zuidwesthoek is known as a cycling breeding ground and produced talents such as Mathieu van der Poel, Thalita de Jong and Moreno Hofland.
RSC de Zuidwesthoek cannot knock on the door of the insurance company. “Such insurance is unaffordable. Moreover, they require that every individual bicycle is locked in the bicycle shed.”
What if they are not found and the municipality cannot help either? Van Eijkeren sighs: “Yeah, I don’t know either. It concerns a damage of 15,000 to 20,000 euros, then we can close the club.”