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    Sporting Events in Zeeland

    Sporting Events in Zeeland

    Sport knows its place, literally, in Zeeland, sharing the best of the water and of the land. Not just the beaches, the dunes and the woods, but also the dikes and dams. They are the arena of so many Zeeuwse sporting events, where you – as professional or just plain sports lover – can flex your muscles with the elements and your own limits. An exercise in choice.

    DAM-X spectaculare

    The action is mega, come October on Brouwersdam, come DAM-X weekend. Is that D for the dam, or for the daredevil dudes on surfboards? Awesome flights, skegs away, at these sick annual European championships for freestyle surfing where the cooking is good. A very popular spot in Zeeland. Off the lip, over the falls, or as the dinosaurs used to groan, ‘wipe-out’. The leaps, the speed, breathtaking. And it’s not just a spectator sport either. At DAM-X, take a workshop on wind surfing, sailing or, rookies welcome, supping.

    Tacx Pro Classic

    Show-down time for prof cyclists, this refined Tacx classic race. They compete head-to-head over a good 200 kilometres, through the polders, over bridges, dikes, the whole Delta Works. The finishing line has the stunning backdrop of the flood barriers on Neeltje Jans island. Quite a spectacle for fans, and a great way to close the cycling season – you can join in the fun of doing sections of the Tacx Classic Zeeland race.

    Beach-Cross Vlissingen

    Something in the air? That’s the streaming sand and the screaming sound of the annual Beach Cross every autumn. Deafening, I said! Young and old – you can picture them, all leathered and lathered – lapping it up as the riders force their motorbikes and sidecars through the rough sand. The boulevard-like esplanade is the perfect grandstand to watch the clashes below, almost gladiatorial but a tad brotherly, with delegates from near and far.

    Eneco NK Headwind-Cycling

    Bike Against the Wind championships! For the young and strong, running against the wind. The Eneco NK Headwind-cycling has one key element, whether you’re here for fun or fame or fortune. The wind is force 7, the bike has no gears and a backpedal brake. It don’t come easy, jeeze, talk about the mountains that you moved. Against the wind. The organisers have the right attitude: with an weather eye on the forecasts, when they see a real storm is coming, they start the countdown.

    Nothing harder than the coastal marathon

    Surely the best optics, the coastal marathon in Zeeland. The toughest athletics too. A 42-km mix of running, walking, mountain-biking through woods, over the shore, dikes and dunes, from Burgh-Haamstede to Zoutelande. The first weekend of October is its regular spot, accompanied by three co-contests on parts of the course: the Ladies run, a mini-marathon and the Light Kustrun. 
    Kustlijn Zeeland

    DELTA Ride for the Roses

    Not an import of the old tensions between the Roses Houses of northern England, this annual procession of bikes wends its way from Goes and Terneuzen over some of the prettiest bike paths, lanes and polders. Everyone is a winner, and it’s all for a good cause, the DELTA Ride for the Roses. A national version of Ride for the Roses has been held three times, starting in Goes, with a peloton swallowing up 100 clicks through the province, crossing the Zeeland bridge and the flood barrier.

    Zeeland Beach Classics

    All-beach versions of volleyball, soccer, tennis, rugby and, you heard it right, Bossaball. The latter is a mongrel of volleyball, football, gymnastics and circle dancing. Implemented on trampolines. Sounds perfect for watching from the boulevard grandstand at Vlissingen, growing from a simple beach tennis party to a multidisciplinary mesh of emerging games. Would you be the umpire?

    Mega-surfing at Domburg

    A photographer’s paradise, one of the best in Zeeland. This is high-end, high-wave surfing at the top. Waves of three metres or more, with winds above 30 knots, form the playing field. The winner is the one with the most extreme and spectacular leaps on a surfboard, on the course between Domburg and Westkapelle. The contest name – De Slag om Domburg – is a respectful nod to a more fundamental Battle, in 1944, of the Schelde, on the island of Walcheren. 

    Zeeland Regatta

    The annual international Zeeland Regatta is held on the Veerse Meer lake in July. It draws beginners and hardened – or leathery-skinned – sailors in various classes of yacht. Not competing? You can join in by watching from a special excursion boat. See a video of the Zeeland Regatta here.

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