The first real December cold was braved by the many participants. With red hands and runny noses, the children were solely focused on winning the race. Their enthusiasm, fueled by the enthusiastic crowd, made them quickly forget about the cold.

Fat Tire Races are competitions for children aged 2 to 12 years old. Everyone can participate in their own age category on their own fat tire bike, which means leaving your racing bike at home.

The youngest participant was not even 2 years old. This race with the youngest ones naturally had a high “ohh and ahh” factor, but they were just as serious and competitive as the older children. During the race, they were completely immersed in the game, busy with their own tactics to be the best. After the race, you could suddenly see a searching look, and once mom or dad was spotted, a big smile appeared, whether they had won or lost no longer mattered. The parents were allowed to ride their own race on fat tires after cheering on their children. Special bikes with very small fat tires are used for this. Encouraged by all the children on the sidelines, the parents might be even more driven not to be outdone by others. It’s always interesting to see how that works, a winning mentality lies within each of us.

The larger group of children in the middle sometimes take it a bit too seriously. If they lose, there are big tears, and if they win, they want to celebrate it grandly. Fortunately, everyone had their own bag of treats from Jumbo, the sponsor of this event. This quickly made the children forget about their loss.

The Centrale Markthal was an extremely suitable location for this event. Everyone arrived and left with the train from ‘Markt Centraal,’ which contributed to a very successful start and finish.