Team Fasta wins third edition of Utrecht Student Cup

The Utrecht Student Cup was created three years ago by the Utrecht Marathon organisation to get students more involved in the event. Sophie Appeldoorn, a representative of Golazo, the company that organises the marathon, is one of the driving forces behind this initiative. ‘A big chunk of the marathon happens at Utrecht Science Park, so we thought it would be fun to get students more involved.’

The concept is as follows: seventeen teams of four students start at the same time as the participants in the regular ten-kilometre race. The route starts and ends at Science Park and passes through Lunetten, Hoograven and Wilhelminapark, among other places. The three fastest times of each team are added together, and the teams with the fastest combined times take home the Utrecht Student Cup.

Appeldoorn explains: ‘Three years ago, when we started the competition, all teams ran the entire marathon consecutively, like a relay team.’ However, this was difficult to organise in terms of logistics, and team members did not run the marathon together. ‘We changed it in the second edition so that team members could still have a drink with their team in the third half.’

Bram (26), Gijs (26) and Jonas (25), aka Team Phoenix, eagerly took advantage of this option after finishing second. The gentlemen, who met at the student association of the same name, Io Vivat Nostrorum Sanitas, in Leeuwarden, had suboptimal preparation in the run-up to the race.

Jonas: ‘I slept badly, only broke in my shoes once and was ill last week. But the weather was perfect.’ When asked if he stopped drinking to prepare for the race, Jonas replied resolutely: ‘Yes, three days ago.’ Whether they will go for first place next year remains to be seen. ‘Hopefully we'll have graduated by then.’

It's a world of difference from the winners of the Utrecht student cup. Frans (26, Master's in Psychology) and Joost (25, Movement Studies) from Team Fasta have known each other since primary school in Lunetten and have been training three times a week for the race for the past six months.

They usually did so with a lap around Singel, but occasionally they would head to the hill in Lunetten to run up and down. ‘The weather and the route were perfect. Paved and through Lunetten, where lots of family and friends were cheering us on. We already knew we were going to win.’ Despite the rigorous preparation, their team also had to deal with last-minute problems.

Their fastest runner, Ernesto, dropped out last week because of an injury, so he sold his starting place on Marktplaats. And that's how Eline, 30 years old and no longer a student, joined the winning team. She was already biking home when she got a call informing her of the results, but she decided to cycle back for the award ceremony.

Next year, Team Fasta will defend their title, hopefully with Ernesto. ‘This time, we only knew six months in advance that we had to start training. We'll be back on our bikes tomorrow and start running again next week. We all want to run under 40 minutes.’

Please find all the results of the Utrecht Student Cup here.