35 years of volunteering

Volunteers are indispensable to organize the Jeugdtour Assen. Johan van der Kamp has been here since 1988, when his eldest son Elmer took part. And now 35 years later he is still an enthusiastic volunteer. In the first years Johan checked the gearing of the participants and helped to make the line-up for the racing run smoothly.

“At the beginning of the week, many riders were still a bit unfamiliar. I noticed that especially with the foreign participants, but at the end of the week everything always ran a lot smoother.”

Johan has been a traffic controller since 2006. “My son-in-law was on the board of De Meteoor cycling club here in Assen. He was responsible for racing and therefore also arranged the traffic controllers for the races that De Meteoor organized. When he got too busy, I took over this task from him. That is how I arranged the traffic controllers for the club.”

Johan is not only involved in events in Assen. He is active throughout the Netherlands! “We are now quite a large organization. We have already been to many Dutch National Championships and soon also to the European Championships. We are not only at cycling races, but also at running and cultural events.”

Johan often works with the same people. “Not many people want to do the training to be a traffic controller. This makes it difficult for event organizers to get enough traffic controllers. They always know how to find us.”

Johan has seen the Jeugdtour develop over the past 35 years. “It has all become much more professional. In the past, for example, they still rode on fixed gears with the youth. Nowadays everyone can change gears. I like to see that. This is how the Jeugdtour grows over the years.”

After all these years, Johan still takes great pleasure in ensuring that the event runs smoothly. “There are many people who want to organize something, but finding volunteers is difficult. By doing this I notice that you make a lot of people very happy. Moreover, we are always with a nice group. Especially the social aspect makes it fun to do. All those contacts ensure that I like to be there every time.”