Nijmegen 4 Day Marches or VierDaagse as it is called, is held annually in Holland in the third week of July. People who take part have to complete the distance of 100 miles (160km) over 4 days of a set route.  If you complete the march you get a medal but be warned because it is NOT for the faint hearted!  Every year around 40,000 people take part in the march!

12F squadron has taken part in the VierDaagse since 2005 with other squadrons in London Wing and will take part again this year.  A lot of training is required and all marchers must complete 7 training weekends to enter the march. The training weekends are deliberately hard to prepare the marchers for Nijmegen.

Over the years not many 4f have taken part but,we hope there to be many more in the future

Official Nijmegen Website: http://www.4daagse.nl/index.asp?taal=en&pagina=homepagina&interactivepage=

 

London Wing set off for Nijmegen, Holland in two contigents on Friday 13th July: Military team and civilian team.  The military team travelling with members of 600 sqn of RAF Norholt.

The 100 mile march begins on the Tuesday and so arriving on the Saturday gives the teams a while to relax before starting the hard walk.  On Saturday night London Wing went to Nijmegen and into The Shamrock pub.  There was a lot of dancing.On the Sunday, London Wing went to MoviePark in Germany and most of us went on the rides although some people were too scared.After the theme park, we all went into Nijmegen town again.

 

The Monday was a day to relax a bit and wind down to prepare for the next day’s walking.  We needed an early night because we all had to be up at 2 in the morning for breakfast!  On Tuesday morning, everyone was up for breakfast and very tired and we all got ready for the day ahead of us.  The route on the first day is relatively hard and includes a hard walk along an exposed dyke with no shade, usually during the hottest part of the day.  However, this year the military team completed the dyke in 45 minutes.

The second day was one of the hardest because the route is quite boring.  At this stage, the walk isn’t physically hard but it is mentally challenging because it’s a quiet route and all you keep thinking is that you’re not even half way through the march yet!

The third day usually increases team morale because the march becomes easier mentally, however, physical injuries usually start appearing which slows the team a bit. But spirits are usually too high to worry about it!  The route on the third day is relatively hard and has the infamous ‘7 Hills’ which take their toll on your body, although not as hard as the training we’re used to.

The last day of the march is definitely the best, because the atmosphere is amazing.  People line the streets to see you march past and give you flowers and sweets and free drinks.  On the last day the military team finish in Charlamagne Fields while the civilians continue into Nijmegen. 

After completing the march, everyone goes into Nijmegen again to celebrate completing it and this involves some moe table dancing in the Shamrock!

There is no way to describe the sense of achievement you get when you complete the march because it is probably one of the hardest things you will ever do so I would like to congratulate everyone who completed the march because I know how hard it is!  So a huge well done to you and hope to see you all do it next year!

from 12F sqn