Sport weekend

There are a lot of sporting activities here this weekend. We've got the "Top of Holland Trophy" football and handball competitions, which have attracted over 150 teams from several countries to the city.

Also, and perhaps of more interest to people who read this blog, there is the "Ronde Van Drenthe" a few km south of here. UCI rated road racing on the doorstep. There are both Men's and Women's races.

We've international competitors at that one too, from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Russia, and including national teams from the UK, USA, Germany and Italy. There are also a number of Spanish competitors, which reminds me that there is still the Vuelta a Espana to look forward to. That's starting right here in Assen at the end of August. Also we have the Jeugdtour, the largest youth cycle race in the world which is organised each year here in Assen..

This weekend I intend to ride down to a cafe on the route of the Ronde van Drenthe and have a beer or a coffie while waiting for the competitors to go by.

I also forgot to mention the Assen triathlon last weekend, but I did cover the winter triathlon last year. The video shows young competitors preparing for the jeugdtour last year. I can tell it's racing season. I couldn't keep up with some of the other commuters on the cycle path yesterday. A short video of the racing we saw the next week is here: