International Four Days Marches Nijmegen
Flag of the Four Days Marches
Status	Active
Genre	Marching event
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Nijmegen
Country	Netherlands

The International Four Day Marches Nijmegen (Dutch: Internationale Vierdaagse Afstandsmarsen Nijmegen) is the largest multiple day marching event in the world. It is organised every year in Nijmegen, Netherlands in mid-July as a means of promoting sport and exercise. Participants walk 30, 40 or 50 kilometers daily depending on their age and gender, and, on completion, receive a royally approved medal (Vierdaagsekruis). The participants are mostly civilians, but there are also a few thousand military participants.

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Standard categories:

30 km × 4 days
40 km × 4 days
50 km × 4 days
55 km × 4 days – reinstated specially for the 100th edition

Military category:

40 km × 4 days – Wearing uniform + at least 10 kg (+ water, etc.) marching weight for males aged 18–49, for females the weight is optional.

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Summary[edit]

The 'Vierdaagse' (Dutch for 'four days lasting event') is an annual walk that has taken place since 1909, being based at Nijmegen since 1916. In 2016 they celebrated the 100th edition (noting that during the 1st and 2nd world war, the marches were curtailed.) Depending on age group and category, walkers have to walk 30, 40 or 50 kilometers each day for four days. Originally a military event with a few civilians, it now is a mainly civilian event. Numbers have risen in recent years, with over 40,000 taking part – including about 5,000 military.^[1] It is now the world's largest walking event. Due to crowds on the route, since 2004 the organizers have limited the number of participants. The first day of walking is always the third Tuesday in July. Many participants take part every year, including several that have taken part in 50, and even 60 different annual marches. The current record is held by Bert van der Lans, who completed his seventy-first march 2018, when aged 86.^[2]

Each day of the marches is named after the biggest town it goes through. Tuesday is the day of Elst, Wednesday the day of Wijchen, Thursday the day of Groesbeek and Friday the day of Cuijk. The routes always stay the same unless there is a specific need to change. This happened in 2007 (route changed in 2006 but cancelled) when the walkers went along the Waalkade, beside the River Waal, on Wednesday for the first time as the original route got overcrowded, with walkers waiting for over an hour at some times. The 2006 march was the first to be cancelled in 90 years (apart from 1940 due to World War II). The extreme heat meant that during the first day's march there were thousands of drop-outs and two deaths.

Following the 2006 cancellation, it was decided that in future the organising committee would adjust the start time/distance/finish time to manage the event, instead of outright cancellation. The 2016 centenary event responded to unusually hot conditions by adjusting the starting times, and/or increasing the valid finishing time to reflect the difficulty of course.

On the Friday, as participants near the finish, the public awards the walkers with gladioli, a symbol of victory since Roman times, when gladiators were likewise showered with these flowers. The entry into the city and towards the finish, the St. Annastraat, is for that reason called Via Gladiola during the Nijmegen Marches.

Awards[edit]

The golden cross with 14 times participation pin

The marching event has three different types of awards:

Cross for the Four Day Marches (Dutch: Vierdaagskruis): awarded to participants who successfully completed the Four Days Marches according to regulations. The medal is an official Dutch decoration that can be worn on a Dutch military uniform. It is fully named 'Cross for demonstrated marching skill', as defined by Royal Decree on 6 October 1909. The walker receives a specific medal depending on the number of times he or she successfully finished the event. The Four Day Marches Cross can be awarded in bronze, silver or gold, which may have a crown above the cross, together with enamelled arms. The ribbon bears numbers and/or a laurel wreath and number or single or double pearl necklace and number, all depending on the number of times the participant has completed the marches.
Orderly Medal of the Four Day Marches (no longer awarded)

History[edit]

Physical education (P.E.) in the Netherlands during the early twentieth century had been organised by teachers and former soldiers, who provided instruction in school gymnastics and basic military training. In the autumn of 1904, sergeants from the 6th Infantry Regiment in Breda founded a football club. This created much excitement among the soldiers and on the first anniversary of the club, they organised a tournament which became the 1906 and 1907 Field Army Sports Days. The success of their initiative motivated various sports associations and social organisations to set up an umbrella organisation.

On 3 April 1908 the Dutch Physical Education Association (NBvLO), the first sports umbrella organisation in the Netherlands, was founded in a coffeehouse, het Zuid-Hollandsch Koffiehuis in The Hague. Based on an idea to organise a four days march to the sports days in Breda, proposed in July 1907 by Lieutenant C. Viehoff from Arnhem, the NBvLO designed 15 routes for the first Four Days Marches in 1909. The day after the Queen’s Day celebrations, then in August, Wednesday 1 September 306 participants set out from ten barracks on the 150 kilometre walk from garrison to garrison. They were accompanied by ten civilians. In Friesland the poor condition of the roads caused their march to be cancelled and three other sections were omitted due to an outbreak of cholera in Rotterdam. ‘The Four Days’ theme was very popular in those days. At various times of the year, other events were held such as a four days (horseback) riding event, a four days cycle event over almost 500 kilometres and four days rowing on our rivers (some of which still exist). In 1910 the Association limited its four days marches to one route from Arnhem through Doesburg, Zutphen and Apeldoorn.

The importance attributed by the government to the performances achieved was already reflected in the recognition of a Decoration to military participants for their marching skills (the Four Days Cross) by Queen Wilhelmina in October 1909.Utrecht (1911), Nieuw-Milligen (1916), Den Bosch (1918), Amersfoort (1919) and Breda (1924) joined Nijmegen as a starting point or centre of the Four Days Marches, before Nijmegen became the permanent host of the Four Days Marches in 1925. Despite a gradual rise in the number of civilian participants, it was not until 1919 that the first woman successfully completed the Four Days Marches: Mrs N. van Stockum-Metelerkamp from Amersfoort.

In 1928 the first walking club was founded in Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Wandelsport Vereeniging). With Amsterdam hosting the Olympic Games, march leader Jonkheer W. Schorer deci

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