Each year Team Tofu adds another item to their outfit. Photo Guy Ackermans The site of the soil drilling championships is not hard to find. Simply follow the vividly dressed cyclists to the south-west of Wageningen, and you will get there. Resource checked out two teams that stood out on the list of participants.
Grouts dressed up as bananas, princesses, minions, witches, men and women in suits with a coat rack all enter the field across from Haarweg 18. Once there, they make a beeline for the bar: beer and French fries to start. Some loosen their hips by dancing to Dutch hits that blare from the speakers. The perfect warming-up for the annual student soil drilling championships organised by the study association Pyrus.
Team Tofu
Team Tofu – named after that one friend in the group who refused to eat tofu snacks when the group met some seven years ago. They are looking forward to the event, they say. These (former) Soil, Water and Atmosphere students appear to be the most normal-looking participants at first glance. The Team Tofu members are dressed “normally” in suits, albeit some with short trousers. They are less visible than the witches, bananas and minions at least.
Each year, we add an item to our outfit. This year, the pocket watch.
Team Tofu
There is a well-conceived strategy behind their outfit. ‘We have joined the event every year since we met. Each year, we add an item to our outfit. We started with just a dress shirt, to which we added a jacket and trousers, a tie with logo, pointy shoes and these umbrellas.’ The latter came in handy in the course of the evening when heavy drops of rain started falling on the field. ‘This year, the pocket watch was added. That helps us keep track of the time until the next round of drilling.
‘When it is time for their first round, the team members hang their jackets on the coat rack. They take the special gloves from their pockets that they use to push the clay out of the soil drill. The coat rack is guarded vigilantly as they drill. ‘We’ve been coming for a few years and know exactly how things go. If we don’t watch out, the rack will be nabbed.’ Meanwhile, there is some serious work underway until the Edelman drill fits into the hole entirely. The jury calls the time, and they hug each other while shouting their battle cry: ‘Bi-ba-bakterras. Biba-bakterras’
Team Edelman
Unlike the experienced members of Team Tofu, this is a first for Team Edelman. Stijn Edelman, the grandson of Professor Edelman, who designed the Edelman drill, dropped in for a look last year. On that occasion, he vowed to appear at the start with a team of family members this year. ‘I checked out the competition last year; I think we can handle it’, he says with a wink. Team Edelman consists of Stijn Edelman, his three sons and their partners and his mother, who was married to Professor Edelman’s brother and knew him personally. ‘This is a unique event. For the students, it is a tongue-in-cheek tradition, but for us, it is part of our family history.’
We were “bore”n Edelman
Team Edelman
As soon as Team Edelman inserts the drill into the soil, at the very moment Team In de BANaan van de Ring does the same, deafening cheers of support rise from the crowd: ‘Even my grandfather drills faster!’ Is it possible that Stijn Edelman’s grandfather, Professor Edelman, drilled faster than these students? Stijn Edelman is doubtful. At the time, it was not about drilling as fast as possible but about taking soil samples for research.
As soon as the first round of drilling is done, the members of Team Edelman share their experiences. The daughter-in-law reveals that they spent the afternoon practising. ‘In the garden, which is sandy. This is much tougher.’ The Edelmans had a great time. Their shirts with the slogan: “bore”n Edelman will become part of their family history, much like the drill itself. ‘Next year, we will enter again.’
Winners
This year’s soil drilling championships were won by team 58 “YOU SHALL NOT DRILL (faster)” in a time of 55.6 seconds.
