Beach volleybal during the GNSK. Photo María Joaquina Acosta The Great Dutch Student Championships were held in Wageningen last weekend. Sixteen delegations from fifteen student cities competed in a tournament of fifteen different sports. Wageningen came in third in the overall ranking after Groningen. Eindhoven ranked first. Nijmegen came in fourth. María Joaquina Acosta was there and took pictures of the various sports, shown below.
Henri ten Klooster, head of Sports Centre de Bongerd, relives a particularly warm GNSK. ‘The heat caused some issues for the football matches, but the players were monitored and cautioned to drink sufficient fluids and stay out of the sun. Beach volleyball was also quite a challenge due to the sand becoming really hot. But all-in-all, it went very well.’ The temperature on the cycling track in Ede was also high. ‘Wet shirts and icepacks for the cyclist’s necks kept them cool. It was a great tournament.’
Gold, silver, bronze
Ten Klooster says there were Wageningen achievements. ‘Elke de Leeuw obtained gold in her weight category for powerlifting and got some great results. I saw her squat 140 kilos.’ De Leeuw squatted with 160 kilos, bench-pressed 80 kilos and deadlifted 170. ‘Rafael Tulen won the category rapiers in fencing’, Ten Klooster continues. Unfortunately, he was unable to represent Wageningen on Sunday because he was training with the national team for the European Championships.
There were also quite some second places for Wageningen teams. The football women’s and men’s teams came second, as did the volleyball team. ‘Quite spectacular, considering that our volleyball team plays in the third division. Even in the finals against Tilburg, which plays in the first division, they held their own.’
Ten Klooster is happy with the third place overall. ‘Exceptionally well done for our small university.’
Next year’s GNSK is to be held in Rotterdam.
