I’ve always liked the idea of a destination race. The idea of entering a race in a location that is exotic and meaningful combines two of my great passions in life: travelling and running! So, it was with great excitement that, during a trip to the Netherlands to explore my wife’s fascinating heritage, I found the Enschede races online. While my trip to the Netherlands was not for the sole purpose of taking part in this race, it still represented an opportunity for me to rub shoulders with the running community in this active European country.
Enschede is a mid-sized city in the East-Central part of the country, close to the border with Germany. The 5km race I took part in was one of a number of different races offered on the weekend of April 27, including the oldest marathon in Netherlands (and second oldest in Europe!), in addition to half marathon, 10km, and Kids run distances. I chose the 5km distance partially because I thought it might be a good gauge for how my training was coming along for my late May 5km goal race in Canada, and partially so that I wouldn’t be sore for the rest of my vacation!
Race day dawned cool (10C) with rain and strong winds…typical Dutch spring weather. Since I had to travel to Enschede from another part of the country, and only firmly decided to enter the race last minute, I had to register on race morning. I found the registration very well-organized and friendly, with plenty of helpful English speakers around to guide me to the right area. For such a small city (perhaps the size of Barrie), the event had a big-race feel: cameras, corrals for the runners, many toilet facilities and free water bottles for the runners pre-race, music pumping, special booths offering all kinds of things, free balloons and noisemakers for my delighted children, and a huge crowd lined up at the starting line. Banners were strung across the race course in large archways that gave the impression that we were taking part in something BIG.
After the marathon runners took off for their race (that race was to be won in 2:10 in a competitive and fast race despite the wind and rain), I lined up with the 5km runners. Now, at 5′ 7″ I am not the tallest runner around, but lining up with the long and lean Dutch I couldn’t see the starting line only meters in front of me! The gun went off (literally: the starter used a pistol to mark the beginning of the race) and together with many hundreds of people, I took off. I ran what I felt was a smart race, running briskly but in control of my pace during the early kilometers. However, unlike any 5km race I’d ever run before, this flat (and wet) course was lined with big crowds of loud and enthusiastic spectators the entire way! I captured a small sense of what it must feel like for elite runners to be cheered on by the masses as they fly by, because the generous Dutch crowd encouraged all of the runners who went by! Since I was in a part of the field that was a bit spread out after a couple of kilometers, I was really able to feel the cheers for ME, and I gratefully interacted with the crowd as much as I could in between breaths.
The course for the 5km race took runners around and through the city center, mostly run on city streets, with a small section run on a concrete passageway through the city center shopping district. Making the last turn, approximately 800m from the finish, the crowds swelled and roared even more as runners were able to measure their final sprints to the finish line. I was able to use the energy I saved earlier in the race to run a strong final mile, passing a number of runners as I neared the finish. Simple but plentiful refreshments greeted the runners at the end, and immediately after the race I was given a handsome finisher’s medal, which was a nice touch for a 5km race.
Post-race, the excellent organization of the race continued to impress me. In the hours after the race, I received an email with a link to a personalized webpage that highlighted my time, placing, and other statistics based on my run. I was also sent a link to a personalized finishing picture proof, and a unique streaming video link that (somehow!) followed my progress over the last kilometer of the race from various cameras along the course! Runners are able to download the video in high-definition for a price, but it is so unique to watch my finishing kick at key points in that final stretch! No doubt the 5km race benefits from being a part of the larger marathon festivities, but nevertheless the video link capped off an excellent race experience!
While the race is not quite 100% perfect (I didn’t notice km markers on the course, and the 5km route is actually a strange 5.3km distance which made for comparing 5km times in other races a bit difficult), it nevertheless offers runners of all fitness levels an exciting and well-organized celebration of running. I HIGHLY recommend this race to any runner travelling to Netherlands to enjoy the tulips in spring: head to the eastern border of the country and take part in this event where you feel like a superstar running on the flat streets of Enschede!
I finished 28/1384 in total, and 20/547 in my general Male category (no age placing for the 5km race). I ran the race in 20:58 (by my calculations, a slightly disappointing 19:46 5km pace: I blame the rain, wind and tiredness from jet lag for slowing me down a bit from my expected pace of better than 19:30)…but the festive mood of the race more than made up for my slightly lower time! What a fun race!
