Origin
The first Apeldoorn Four Days event was held in 1954, organized by the Dutch Walking Sports Association (NWB). The first time, it started from the Boschbad in Apeldoorn. Since then, the starting location has moved several times within Apeldoorn. Starting locations included: the Eierhal (1955 – 1960), La Bordelaise (1961 – 1963), the Eurobeurs (1964), Schouwburg Orpheus (1965 – 1985), the Canadian Club (1986 – 1993), and Orpheus again (1994 – 2003).
Since 2004, the sports complex of vv Victoria Boys has become the heart of 4Days Apeldoorn. Participants were enthusiastic about this facility from the beginning, as it is directly located at the edge of the forest and has plenty of free parking spaces in the area.
Participants
The very first edition (1954) of the Apeldoorn Four Days attracted 463 participants. In the following years, the number of participants continued to rise, surpassing 2,000 in 1983. This increase continued until early 2000s, reaching over 4,000 participants. In recent years, including day participants/hikers, there have been around 3,000 participants in total.
In Apeldoorn, there is a maximum number of participants per distance, as the routes (sometimes narrow paths through nature) do not allow for large numbers.
Distances
To accommodate hikers for whom the challenging routes of 30, 40, or 50 kilometers became too difficult, it was decided in 1996 to add a 20 km distance. In 2015, an average distance of 12 km was also added. From that year on, one could also register for 1, 2, or 3 days. This allowed even more participants to enjoy a beautiful walk. Due to insufficient participation, the 50 km distance has been discontinued since 2022.
NL