Winners of the Dam tot Damloop seem to be known to women and to men everything is still open

Nearly forty thousand participants will be at the start on Sunday on the Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam. The majority consists of recreational runners, but around a quarter past ten the international and national top athletes leave. First the women and six minutes and four seconds later the men. There is also a competition within a competition.

Maximum

One of the favorites for the Dutch title is Richard Douma. The native of Zaankant has already participated in the Dam tot Damloop many times and wants to go as far as possible on Sunday. “This time I’m taking a slightly different approach. Last year I wasn’t fresh at all and now I’ve consciously slowed down a bit in recent days.” Douma is competing with Khalid Choukoud, Stan Niesten from Beverwijk and Frank Futselaar for the title of best Dutch man.

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The field of participants for the international men includes five Kenyans. The expectation is that they will decide who will take the men’s title. For the women it has already been determined who will win. Olympic champion Almaz Ayana from Ethiopia is the big favorite. The hope is that she will even attack the 1987 course record of the Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen (50.31 min).

Diane van Es

Even when it comes to the Dutch women’s title, the winner seems to be known in advance. 24-year-old Diane van Es is the favorite. Last year she was also the first Dutch woman to cross the finish line. This year her personal goal is to be a little closer to the international group. “I especially want to finish as high as possible.” An important competitor for Van Es comes from North Holland with Jill Holterman. Last year, the athlete from Egmond aan den Hoef finished ninth in the rankings.

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Finally, the weather forecast. While it rained last year and was quite cold, Sunday will probably be around 25 degrees with lots of sun. This undoubtedly causes problems for recreational runners. Overheating, for example, is then lurking.

Precautionary measures

Organizer Le Champion uses extra drinking stations and cooling pools and switches off timekeeping for recreational participants to discourage them from running too fast. In addition, there is more time between the starting times, so the riders are more spread out on the course. This gives the emergency services more space to provide any medical assistance. The warm-up before the start is also cancelled.

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As a final option, the organization has the option to stop the running race. This also happened in 2019, when the last two starting boxes were no longer allowed to leave. “If healthcare can no longer cope, then it is no longer responsible,” said race director Jan Willem Mijderwijk. In 2009, 2014 and 2016, participants died during the competition.

Live

The Dam tot Damloop can be followed live on NH on Sunday. The television broadcast starts at 10 a.m. with a focus on the top athletes at first and later in the day we focus the spotlight on the recreational runners.