After three years of absence, the Kennedy March returns to Sittard on Saturday and that promises to be a very special edition for Hans van Wakeren (73) from Stein and Loes Tummers (74) from Puth. They can equal the magical record of 50 successful Kennedy marches by Jean Heijnens.
For Van Wakeren, the 80 kilometer journey will be a race against time. The experienced hand still participates in the competition class and those participants must complete the march within twelve hours. Van Wakeren does not dare to say whether that will work. In any case, it will not be due to his preparation.
Start number 50
The competitive runner trains almost daily in his hometown. According to Van Wakeren, the Heidekamp Park is perfect for this. “Ideal. They are laps of 1700 meters, asphalted, in nature and you don’t encounter any traffic”, says the fanatic who hopes to finish before 5 p.m. In any case, the organization is optimistic. They have reserved the start number 50 especially for Van Wakeren.
Daylight
Tummers is the other candidate who can look forward to a gold edition. She joins as a holiday maker and started preparations in December. “I train towards the Kennedy March with walks of 30 to 40 kilometers. That is also necessary, because the time for finishing in daylight is long gone for me,” laughs Tummers.
Continue without glasses
Her first Kennedy march is still burned into the retina of Tummers. “That was in 1968. It was quite hard. I hadn’t trained for the trip and ran into a tree before noon because I was walking forward while looking back. I had to continue the rest of that grueling trip without my glasses because it was broken.”
Three years ago, Tummers managed to cross the finish line in Sittard at 21:45. “We will see if my condition has deteriorated in those three years. Hopefully I can still do it.”
On Saturday morning at 5:00 am, the 57th Kennedy March will start on the Markt.