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50 Years EFNS - Team Netherlands

What makes EFNS attracting you?
The combination of wintersports, people, celebrating and travelling.

What is special?
Since many new countries in the eastern part of Europe emerged, they all want to put themselves on the map, for instance with international events. The EFNS is such an event and the new countries in the east all showed their best and allowed us, compatitors, to experience culture, people and natural beauty in an important and interesting part of Europe. Although I enjoyed every competition very much, for me, those in the new eastern coutries were the most special ones.
Thank you Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Germany (Saxonia)!

What do you like most?
Visiting new countries and meeting new people, enjoing natural beauty, culture and sports. Besides that, being and travelling together for years with my teammates from team Holland and my friends from Skiforest NRW, the team from North Rhein-Westphalia.

Special experiences you have made with EFNS:
During the classical competition in Joensuu, I saw a black grouse. Nobody believed me, sadly I had no prove of this encounter. It was very special for me because in the Netherlands, the black grouse is almost extinct.

A totally different experience: during two of the competitions, I had a little accident. In these special situations, I experienced a lot of friendliness and helpfullness from medical services and people around me in Estonia and Croatia, sharing their recources with a foreign guest like me. Besides that, the real friendship from my German friends from North Rhein-Westphalia. Thank you all!

What's the special spirit of EFNS?
Should I say more? It's the EFNS spirit to share forest knowledge, culture, natural beauty, sports, being in a competition, making mixed relay teams together with other nations (thank you Belgium!) and celebrating together and by doing so, being a real European community.

Never forget will we......
Never forget Gert Bikker, the enthousiastic and committed founding father of team Holland. A real EFNS veteran who joined the competitions in 1982, when the Netherlands became the 7th country in the competition. Always accompanied by his wife Genoveva and later also by his children, especially Suzanne, who was in the competition many times. EFNS became a kind of family for them. Finally his health made in impossible for him to be in the competition and I took over as teamleader. I will always remember my teammate and his family. We travelled together for almost 20 years and shared many experiences and emotional moments. He died the 17th of oktober 2015.

Our wishes for the next 50 years EFNS:
no more climate change so that we will have snow and healthy nature in future and of course enough and younger compatitors.

Sad enough, in the Netherlands, snowfall is rare and so unpredictable than we'll never be able to organize EFNS.
Team Holland
eMail:
Phone number: +31384652156

Date of foundation and/or entry date to EFNS:
as far as I know, team Holland started as an EFNS-team when EFNS was born

What was your motivation?
The combination of the biathlon-challenge, the contact with an international community of forestcollegues, the chance to see many countries in Europe

Current teamleader / contact person:
Gerard van Breemen
How many participants has your team (2017):
1 - 2