After posting my tribute to photographer Ewoud Broeksma last month, I received an e-mail from a FH reader who reminded me of a series Ewoud used to share on his sites.. As much as I loved Ewould's posed shots of models and athletes, I think you'll understand why these non staged shots of the varsity students final race are favorites.
The Final Race:
Words & Images by Ewoud Broeksma
Each year on the second Sunday in April, a 125 year old student-rowing tradition takes place in a canal just a little south of the dutch town of Utrecht. A highlight in these boat races, is the final race between the 4-coxless in which various teams from the various universities in the country compete for the highest honour in rowing.
Also tradition is the naked greet by supporters of the winning team, the men wearing university ties only, right after the boat has passed the line. In fact all freshmen are more or less obliged to participate, if they are a member of the winning university rowing club.
It is a sponsored event and the nude swim is anticipated by a firm handing out free company towels as a sign of support and of course making it easy for some to participate. The university clubs carry names usually taken from the Greek/Roman mythology such as Nereus (Amsterdam) Triton (Utrecht) and Laga (Delft).
Interesting to know may be that rowing is a typical student sport in The Netherlands and that the great rowers who won gold with the 8+ at the Olympics in Sydney 2000 all started here on the Varsity and still consider this a must to attend.
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