It has cost Jeroen Scheffer and his team a lot of free hours, but the result is impressive. The course of the seventh Subaru Beach Battle on Sunday in Wijk aan Zee is one to take through a ring.
Take the start on the Dorpsweide, where six hundred mountain bikers depart in five different categories, the ‘dive’ to the beach, the part over the Noordpier and the climb from the beach to the parking lot at the Hoge Duin hotel. “All aspects of beach racing are covered,” says organizer Jeroen Scheffer. “It’s the variety that makes this round so beautiful.”
Reconnaissance
Yesterday, the Beverwijker explored the course once again with Jorge van Vliet, a recognized beach racer who hopes for a place in the top ten in the starting license holders category. “If all goes well, it should be possible,” he says, panting from the exploration. Van Vliet calls the Beach Batte ‘not the toughest match, but the most fun because of the variety.’
Dutch championship
The special thing about the seventh edition of the Beach Battle is that the competition is a Dutch Championship. That attracts the national top to the seaside resort. Men like Thijs Zonneveld, Ivar Slik and Stijn Appel, winner of the last Egmond-Pier-Egmond, appear at the start. Scheffer calls the fact that the still young beach race for mountain bikers is an NK this time ‘an acknowledgment.’
“When we started seven years ago, we said to each other that it would be the icing on the cake if we could ever organize the Dutch National Championships. And now the time has come. Really something to be proud of.”
The match starts on Sunday at 10:30 am.