Marathon Via Belgica
Author: Stichting Foras
Photography: Stichting Foras
Every marathon has to start somewhere. The same goes for the Marathon Via Belgica. This is the story of the Foras Foundation.
How it all began…
It all started with a turtle…
Sometime in 2016, Dave Houben ran a marathon along the abandoned course of a race that no longer existed. A year earlier, he had fallen in love with the Roman route that crossed the rolling hills of South Limburg — but the event, much like the Romans two thousand years before, had come to an end.
On a warm Saturday in September 2020, Dave met Danny Roufs by a certain turtle in Rimburg, where they had a long talk about organizing a Roman-themed marathon in South Limburg. Danny works for Historisch Goud in Heerlen and had already been organizing another challenging marathon in South Limburg for several years: the Wilhelminaberg Stair Marathon.
Dave and Danny both felt the spark and decided to organize a marathon together — one that would follow and celebrate one of the oldest roads in the Netherlands: the Via Belgica. Danny was also co-founder of Foras Events, where he convinced Patrick Schaaf to step into the sandals of the Romans. Thus, the duo became a trio. The first stone for the new Marathon Via Belgica was laid.
Over the following year, a team was formed and countless possible routes were considered. The marathon would not be a loop, but a point-to-point race — 28.5 Roman miles from start to finish, symbolizing the distance Roman legions once had to march. The finish line was set on the historic Servaas Bridge in Maastricht, and the start at that one special turtle on the bridge over the Worm River in Rimburg.
By coincidence, right next to that bridge in Rimburg, the Roman remains of a vicus (settlement) had been discovered. Thus, the two bridges symbolize the Roman bridges that stood there some 2,000 years ago.
In May 2022, the time had come. Amid cheers from residents, spectators, and countless volunteers, hundreds of runners set off toward Maastricht. The first Marathon Via Belgica was a reality — with a unique course passing the highest point of the Via Belgica in Landgraaf, the Roman Baths of Heerlen, through the hilly Geul Valley, past two of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, and by that one special turtle!
