Good Luck to ISHOF Honoree Maarten van der Weijden !!

Honoree: Maarten van der Weijden is doing an 11-cities triathlon. It starts of with the swimming bit: 200km.

It starts on Sunday 18 June and if goes well finishes on Wednesday 21 June. Much will probably be live online and some televised in the Netherlands.

In the last few years – Maarten has raised more that $10 MILLION for cancer charities……he continues

**translated from Dutch

Maarten van der Weijden is looking forward to the eleven-city triathlon: “He trained for three years”

June 6, 07:00 • Two more weeks: then Maarten van der Weijden will return to Fryslân. This time not for the swimming eleven city tour, but for the eleven city triathlon. After the Frisian Stefan van der Pal, Van der Weijden will now also try to not only swim the route, but also cycle and walk. It is the first time that Van der Weijden will also cycle and walk the tour. Twice before he swam the Eleventh Tour. In 2018 he failed to swim the tour, but a year later he did. That’s why Van der Weijden now finds himself ready for the next challenge.

Three times the Eleventh Tour in a week

Van der Weijden knows what it’s like to swim the Alvestêde Tour, but to be able to cycle and walk afterwards is a different story. In his training sessions, he was able to handle the distances, but whether he can do it so flat in succession is still a question. Nevertheless, he sees it as a good thing. “I’ve never done it before,” says Van der Weijden. “But I trained for three years before this, so I think I can handle it.” LEARN MORE 720p selected as playback quality! ! ! ! 00:00 | 01:34 01:34 Speed 0.5x 0.75x Normal 1.25x 1.5x 2.0x Quality 720p 480p 360p Language Subtitle Off ! Blue Billywig Video Player Maarten van der Weijden is looking forward to the 11-city triathlon A few months ago he suffered from a stomach bleed and it got worse. “The stomach bleeding was quite severe, because I even spent a week in the hospital.” But in the meantime he is again top fit. “I’m fortunately recovered and definitely ready for it.”

Sporting together

The fact that Van der Weijden will now also cycle and walk is not the only difference with the previous times. Namely, people can now also play sports with him. “I want to make it as big an event as possible. We want as many people as possible to participate in sports, so that as much donation money as possible can be collected”, says the former Olympic champion. If you are 70 and you lost your partner of 75 to cancer, you could still participate. Maarten van der Weijden The fact that quite a bit of money has already been raised means a lot to Van der Weijden. “I think that’s crazy. I’m going to do sports, but it’s so nice and heart-warming that so many people participate who also collect money in their own environment. Everyone knows someone in their environment who has cancer or has had it. That we if everyone has been able to do something about it and hopefully make a lot of research possible, I’m really happy!”

Don’t run but walk

In each city, a different research into cancer is central, where the money that is raised goes. So people can see what they are exercising for or what exactly they are spending their money on. “We try to make the care a little better in all kinds of ways”, explains Van der Weijden. Unlike Stefan van der Pal, Maarten van der Weijden has decided not to run, but to walk. According to him, there are two reasons for this. “The beauty of walking is that everyone could participate. If you’re 70 and you’ve lost your partner of 75, you could still join. I think that’s the best thing, that we can all go walking together.” The second reason has to do with his physical health. “The cartilage in my knee is no longer so good, so it is not healthy for me to go running. But I can walk.” Maarten van der Weijden practicing at the Aldehou © Martin de Jong Fotografie The tour lasts from 18 to 24 June and so Van der Weijden will not make it without sleep. He finds that difficult, but he does see that there is no other way. “The first time in 2018, when I didn’t make it, I thought sleep was cheating. Only then did I find out during the tour that you can’t do it without sleep. I find it difficult because I ask for help. It only feels good when I give everything myself. But what all that is, I can hardly estimate. I will have to sleep, in order to do that last bit together here in Leeuwarden.”

Finish in Leeuwarden

This time the finish line is in Leeuwarden and he is already looking forward to that. “I think it’s very nice that the finish is here at the Oldehove. I start in the Prinsentuin and the Oldehove is the place where I always change sports. But that I finish in the heart of Leeuwarden, here at the Oldehove, there I really like it.”

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