The Germans love Holland and the Dutch love Germany - at least when it comes to traveling. On a sporting level, things look quite different again, skateboarding excepted. Where in soccer an aggressive rivalry arises, in skateboarding people always give each other props and are inclined to always give the little neighbor advance praise. The phrase "we don't stand a chance against the Dutch anyway" is something I've heard more than once in my life, especially in connection with the annual "Germany vs the Netherlands" contest in Enschede. However, on the second weekend in October 2023 the cards should be reshuffled. Sentences like "I think this year it's gonna be the germans" made the rounds through the ranks of the Dutch upon our arrival at "De Fabrik" skatepark and not even without reason. Well, let's see!
Germany vs. The Netherlands 2023 | De Fabrik / Enschede
Next try for the german Contest-Elite!
"It would be dope if you could get some REALLY good riders this year!" were the words of Mathijs Tromp from Flatspot Magazine and even though he says this every year, it had to be possible to have a chance against the Dutch at some point. So I picked up the phone (does one still say that nowadays) and did everything I could to get the best of the best of the best German (contest) riders to the start. Since there were, surprise surprise, no other events on this particular weekend, this worked for the first time par excellence.
Everybody agreed to come, from Justin Sommer to Denny Pham, from Mika Möller to Gino Körner, and in the end really everyone had made it. Even Deniel Cramer flew in from Mallorca, once again, and so it was not too far-fetched that Kees Jacobs greeted us in front of the hall with the aforementioned sentence. "Nassim is not gonna come, neither is Tim Zom and Jason Lijnzaat, so you might take it this year" let me indeed hope a little bit for the first time - but it was still early.
But early was relative. It felt like a glimpse of an eye until the first heat started and the "previous 3 grenades" of the Dutch, namely Bart Buikman, Daniel Moragues and newcomer Tijmen Overbeek, were joined at that very moment, as if out of nowhere, by Lars de Weert, Douwe Macare and Bert Wilmink. So much, then, for "opportunities in 2023." Nevertheless, with the usual established contest format, there were still chances for the Germans. As always, the 6 best Germans and 6 best Dutchmen were cut first. In this "first round" especially Denny Pham and Justin Sommer stood out, but also Mika Möller and Deniel Cramer gave hope to the German corner. Among the Dutch, logically, all of the aforementioned advanced, so that the semi-final was already extremely exciting.
Cool was that newcomer Jan Rehring was among the 6 best Germans. Uncool was that Denny Pham unfortunately seemed to be cursed with bad luck and bailed in both semi-final runs. Nevertheless, the Germans were basically well positioned for the final with Justin, Mika and Deniel. Against Bert Wilmink, a local in the parkl, Douwe and Lars it should be very difficult though. And so an extremely hot fight broke out in the last minutes of the event, from which in the end... again the Dutch emerged as winners. A bit of bad luck on the part of the Germans also played into the boys' cards, but the bottom line is that the three were simply unbeatable, at least on this Saturday. Congratulations! After the final there was a best trick contest, where flying machine Gino Körner at least managed to win the best trick title with a Bs double flip.
So the bottom line was once again everything as usual. The Germans give everything, everyone had a great day in Enschede and in the end the Dutch win! Thanks to "De Fabrik" and Kees Jacobs, Mathijs, all present riders and spectators as well as the city of Enschede, which supports this extraordinary contest every year! See ya next year!
