Eric Claus, 1977, World championships rowing Bosbaan, Amsterdam, gold, 28 mm, NEPK2756
In autumn 2024 three generous donors enriched the NEPK collection with the medal shown above. This rare gold medal was created for the world championships rowing in 1977, which were held on the Bosbaan in Amsterdam. But how did this Amsterdam medal find its way to the Rotterdam medal collection? The organization of the world championships was entrusted to the Royal Netherlands Rowing Association (KNRB), which represents the roughly 125 rowing clubs in the Netherlands. KNRB then asked the Amsterdam Rowing Association to actually organize the event. For this significant activity Amsterdam asked its Rotterdam counterpart – the Royal Rowing and Sailing Club “De Maas”, for assistance. With the consent of Mr. Hudig, board member of “De Maas”, ms Riet van der Waal, who worked at the Hudig offices, realized this Rotterdam contribution. In recognition of her significant efforts she was awarded this gold medal. Almost fifty years later, her heirs found it appropriate to donate this medal to the NEPK collection, so it would remain in a publicly accessible collection in Rotterdam.
The NEPK collection represents many medals of honor, medals of merit and prize medals. Remember that prize medals do not necessarily refer to sports – industrial and agricultural expositions, and scientific achievements are also often recognized with a prize medal. Just select “Prize medal” as search term in pull down menu “Type”.
Or select search term “Sports” in menu “Group”, perhaps in combination with “Rotterdam” in menu “City”. The last of these results in at least 30 medals related to sports in Rotterdam, among them two medals of “De Maas”.
For the medal shown, click: https://www.nepk.nl/en/collectie/?id=2756
For earlier news items, click: https://www.nepk.nl/en/news/
