There is no Koerse like Danilith Nokere Koerse!
There is no Koerse like Danilith Nokere Koerse!
By the end of February, temperatures start to rise. We can’t call it Nokere Koerse fever yet, but posters are appearing on countless windows. It is the front page of the magnum opus of our late Edwin De Borggraeve. The board hereby pays tribute to a great Nokere local who for years safely guided the VIPs. Or was it ‘leede’? Many recognize images of the village on the cover, others name the figures gracing the front page. And who recognizes the race director?
For the parishioners, it takes some getting used to, even surreal, that the small village has to deal with one-way streets. ‘ Hopefully, it’s only for the race’ they grumble.
And before we know it, it’s Friday, March 14. Luckily, no 13th… ‘Depart canard’ kicks off the festive week. Around 900 celebrants go all out. Some might get an earful from their wives upon arriving home too late. As usual, some cars remain lonely and abandoned in the parking lot on Saturday morning. The ‘canard’ has flown away…
Saturday, March 15, promises to be sunny. Only the biting northeast wind creates an unpleasant feeling. ‘As long as it’s dry’ I hear early birds say…
In the morning, the future is being prepared. The smallest youngsters are being prepared for the big work. Those who have outgrown their balance bikes even get a taste of part of the local circuit. No age group is overlooked in Nokere…
For the first time, a very well-received Special Olympics competition is organized. In various categories – including women – a winner is declared. During the proclamation, the national anthem resounds loudly through the loudspeakers. It gives me chills, but I don’t sing along. I leave that to our former prime minister… ‘Allons enfants de la patrie’ …
By 2:00 PM, I start preparing for the main event, ‘The Mountain Prize’ for the juniors. To be clear, this is awarded to the rider who accumulates the most points by crossing the ‘old’ finish line in Nokeredorpstraat. Since ‘the finish’ is located just above ‘the real climb’ this year, there’s no photo finish for me anymore. So, it will be a matter of managing with our own ‘spotters’. During the first passage, I notice that the barrier prevents me from seeing the riders approaching from the Landhuys. Afterwards, I speak to Etienne about it. ‘It will be sorted by Wednesday’ he assures me.
Between the two passages, I walk down the street for a moment. On my way back to my post, a friendly lady approaches me. ‘Sir, thank you for organizing all of this for our children’. Undeniably the mother of one of the riders. I was totally surprised. So, there is still gratitude for the tremendous work that countless board members and supporters do for the organization of this ‘traditional’ event. There should be more like them…
After the second and final passage on the cobblestones, two riders each accumulated 5 points for the mountain prize. The one who reaches the finish line first receives no less than €500. A not insignificant amount for juniors.
I have plenty of time to leave my usual spot and head to ‘the finish’. A greeting to the mayor, a pint in the tent, some fries for the neighbor’s children – it’s all part of the experience… With a calm mind, I climb to ‘the finish line’… The announcer’s volume increases as the kilometers for the riders dwindle. And then… the winner flashes past, I never saw him coming… Thor Michielsen gets to make the victory gesture. Ultimately, Mauro Keppens takes home the mountain prize. A big round of applause for the winners. ‘Keep it up, boys. Soon the elite riders will be eyeing you…’
Wednesday, March 19.
The big day has finally arrived. Readers of De Standaard are presented with a full page about ‘our race’ in the morning. The headline of the article doesn’t lie: ‘Safe racing, how do you achieve that? An insight into Nokere Koerse’. Crashes are timeless. They can never be entirely avoided. And Jasper Philipsen will have something to say about that later today.
In the morning, it’s the ladies’ turn. And they clearly are not in a hurry. Almost 10 minutes later than the slowest schedule, they cycle up Dorpstraat for the first time. In the absence of Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Wiebes, Julie De Wilde tops the bookmakers’ list.
The girls don’t make it easy for the Mountain Prize jury. During the first passage, they cross the finish line ‘en masse’. Marthe Goossens and Carine Schrempf can be clearly distinguished as first and second respectively, but who takes third place is anyone’s guess. During the second passage, the Swedish Stina Kagevi clearly crosses the line separated from the rest. Saturday’s story repeats itself. Whoever rolls over the finish line first receives no less than €1500. Ultimately, Goossens will claim the prize.
During the final lap, Anna Henderson rides ahead of the peloton for a while. Less than seven km before the finish, her breakaway attempt is thwarted. Floortje Makai also curses the cobblestones when she gets a puncture just a stone’s throw from ‘
At 12:45 PM, the unofficial start for the ‘Elite Men’ is given at the Market in Deinze. Ten minutes later, the race director’s flag drops. The fireworks can begin. Meanwhile, the ladies have just started their second and final local lap.
There’s not only tension in the air. Four buzzards circle on thermals above Nokeredorpstraat. They climb higher than the helicopter that is closely following the race. Perhaps drones will also be used in Nokere in the near future to follow ‘our race’.
Only Joos knows who brought eggs to the Poor Clares in Oudenaarde this year, but it’s certain that the sun is burning mercilessly. Apply sunscreen, or you’ll get a tan. How could it be otherwise, as above the Lotto billboard I read ‘There is spring, there is the sun’. Wasn’t that Jan De Wilde’s monster hit in 1972? Oh, for those times! That year, Tony Houbrechts won, Jacky (for friends) De Boever finished seventh.
When the riders climb Nokeredorpstraat for the first time, they already have more than 100 km in their legs. The Dutchman Jelle Johannink of the Unibetteam collects the first mountain prize points. He repeats this during the second and third passages and thus becomes the undisputed King of the Mountain Prize. €1500 in his pocket.
The riders complete the last local lap counter-clockwise. Perhaps the cobblestones of Herlegemstraat will be the decider. But no, it increasingly looks like a sprint on ‘the Climb’ will settle the matter. Everyone is betting on Jasper Philipsen. Fate decides otherwise. Due to a crash, he sees the ambulance sooner than the finish line. That’s a disappointment for him… Someone then dares to suggest that we should perhaps re-cobble ‘the Climb’, just like a century ago.
Ultimately, the Dutchman Nils Eekhoff wins the sprint. Matteo Moschetti and Luke Lamperti follow in his wake. A fine podium, although we would have preferred… Come on, Kinds, don’t be chauvinistic, ‘liever, liever… een liever is een haas’.
See you next year. Be there Lotte, Tim and Jasper!!!
Lieven Kinds, March 24, 2025