{"id":152881,"date":"2023-04-04T11:12:24","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T09:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=152881"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:43","slug":"its-a-first-the-skadi-womens-team-has-won-the-varsity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/04\/04\/its-a-first-the-skadi-womens-team-has-won-the-varsity\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a first: the Skadi women’s team has won the Varsity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big celebrations at Skadi: the Women\u2019s Four of the Rotterdam student rowing association won the Varsity last weekend. This is the first time that the Skadi women\u2019s team has won the most important student rowing competition.<\/p>\n

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Skadi rowers Lieke van Nieuwenhuizen, Linn van Aanholt, Marieke Kesijer and Nienke von Hebel win the Varsity.<\/span><\/p>

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Last Sunday was a very special day for the Rotterdam student rowing association Skadi. On the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Houten, the association\u2019s women\u2019s rowing team won the Varsity \u2013 the largest student rowing regatta in the Netherlands \u2013 for the first time.<\/p>\n

The 139th Varsity took place this year. Skadi\u2019s men\u2019s team had already won the award<\/a> nine times, for the last time in 2015. There has only been a competition for female rowers since 2017. This year, the Utrecht student rowing association Triton carried home the award for the men.<\/p>\n

Icing on the cake<\/h2>

\u201cMy career was already going very well, but this is the icing on the cake\u201d, says Marieke Keijser, one of the four Skadi rowers and former Olympian. The other winners are Nienke von Hebel, Linn van Aanholt and Lieke van Nieuwenhuizen. The Health Policy & Management student won gold at the European Championships in 2018, silver at the World Rowing Championships in 2019 and bronze at the Olympic Games in 2021. She has been a member of the rowing association for seven years now. \u201cThis victory made more of an impression on me than the medals at the Olympics\u201d, she says. \u201cThis is really something you do for the club, whereas the Olympics is something you only do for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, she feels like she and her team have written \u2018a little piece of history\u2019, she says. According to a tradition of the association, the victory means that the four winners are allowed to wear white jackets. \u201cThis tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, but until now, it\u2019s only been men who wore the jackets\u201d, she says. \u201cNow, there are also female role models walking around in the white coats \u2013 I think this will inspire other women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big celebrations<\/h2>

Although it quickly became clear during the match that Skadi was going to win, Marieke still found the regatta stressful. \u201cThis was my first competition after the Olympics where I experienced real pressure again. I was relieved when it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory was celebrated in style. After a winner\u2019s dinner in Houten, a big reception at Rotterdam Central Station and a ceremony, the day ended with a pub crawl. \u201cI certainly made the most of the celebrations\u201d, says Marieke, laughing. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy to get out of bed on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t