Just over a week to go and then thousands of people in our province will get on their bikes for the Drentse Fiets4Daagse. The organization hopes for 8,000 participants.
“So far there are 4,000 people who have registered to cycle all four days,” says chairman Jan Broertjes. “In addition, there are also people who participate for one or two days. The number of pre-registrations is higher than last year, but slightly lower than hoped.”
Last year online registration was mandatory, which was one of the corona measures. That is no longer necessary this year, so Broertjes expects many more participants who will register on the day itself. The chairman is relieved that the Fiets4Daagse can go back to the traditional way this year: “Last year the participants simply cycled from start to finish, activities on the way were not possible. This year we can do that again. There are again plenty of children’s activities, participants are allowed to cycle through Wildlands in Emmen, visit a farm and the tradition of the Fiets4Daagse breakfast on Wednesday is back in all starting places.” The reception on the last day can also be great again, last year it had to be very sober.
The biggest change is the lack of starting place Norg. “Due to a shortage of volunteers, Norg was unable to complete the organization, so the village is not the starting point,” says Jan Broertjes. You can start this year from Assen, Dalen, Diever, Emmen, Meppel and Westerbork for distances of thirty to sixty kilometers.
Another difference that the chairman notices is the reluctance of catering establishments. “In other years, the entrepreneurs mainly hoped that we would visit their cafe or restaurant. Now not everyone is ready for that, because of the staff shortage in the catering industry.”
Chairman Broertjes is certainly looking forward to it and he is already looking with satisfaction at the weather forecasts. “The weather looks fine for now and that will undoubtedly help the number of registrations.” The Drentse Fiets4Daagse is from 19 to 22 July.