Short Track Harness Race Heemskerk

Responsible for the organisation of the event is the Harddraverijvereniging Heemskerk, an association with nearly 1,800 members who, as fans of the event, help ensure its continuity with their dues. The board of the association has six members, who voluntarily take on the coordination of everything involved in the organisation.

The largest group of people involved is formed by residents and former residents of Heemskerk. In addition, a large group from the region and from the circle of fans of the short track harness racing sport who come from all over the country to Heemskerk and to other horse racing events. Many a born Heemskerker comes back to Heemskerk every year for the harness race. At the harness race event, old friends see each other again amidst a lot of conviviality.

Young and old go to the horse race, people take time off work for it and the customers of most entrepreneurs are also along the track on Thursday afternoon. Even when the weather is bad, the Heemskerkers will go on watching. Umbrellas, tarpaulins, and a generous mouthful of supplies are brought along to follow the race in great conviviality and togetherness, whatever the weather.

The participants in the horse race are the professional practitioners of equestrian sports.

The three-day fair in Heemskerk was given the status of Folk Festival in 1908. After which, in 1925, with the establishment of the harness race association and the organisation of the first short track race on the Marquettelaan, the short track tradition was born. In Heemskerk the race has been ridden with a sulky from the very beginning. The Folk Festival is a combination of funfair and festivities in the village pubs, with the harness race as the core. Since 1960, a cycle race has also been organised in Heemskerk, which is programmed alongside the Folks Festival.

 In the first years, horses were entered from the local community. From the horse that was used on the land to the horse of the waste food collector. Over the years, the sport has become increasingly professional. Nowadays, racing is only allowed with a licence of the NDR, and the short track is no longer accessible to amateur drivers. The rules, both regarding the sport and the public event, have evolved over the years, as have the facilities that need to be made to organise the race. For a long time, the municipality of Heemskerk took care of the construction of the track, but nowadays the full responsibility lies with the association. In the first years, the race was ridden on Queens Day, Queen Wilhelmina's birthday, 31 August. Later the race was moved to the first Thursday of September.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary in 2000, a jubilee book was published, in which it was carefully recorded how the event came into being and has evolved over the years. To the realization of the book there has been intensive cooperation by the Historical Circle Heemskerk.

Safeguard actions

 2020-2023

•  (Continue to) foster understanding for the need to charge admission fees among visitors to the short track harness race: it is unavoidable for the operation to close off a section of public road and charge for admission.
• To make and keep the business community enthusiastic for the race, because many companies can hardly do business during the race on Thursday. This requires understanding and can be both an incentive and a hindrance to sponsor acquisition.
• Convince the municipal authorities that strict rules regarding safety, the environment and suchlike are essential but also place a huge financial and capacity burden on the organisation, which will sooner or later need more support from the municipality.
• Cooperation with the organisers of the other elements of the festival and acting together where possible.
• Continuously being alert to internal and external factors that influence the organisation and exploitation of the horse-racing event.
• Preservation of historical awareness in order to maintain the race, adapted to contemporary circumstances, also for the future.
• Making the archives accessible to interested parties, for example by publishing a new jubilee book or by further opening up historical and current information via the website harddraverijheemskerk.nl.
• Besides other short track organisations, the Harddraverijvereniging also has to deal with the other branches of harness racing in the Netherlands, especially the so-called A-tracks (Alkmaar, Duindigt and Wolvega). On these tracks, many professionals from the short track sport also start, so the programming must be closely coordinated. This happens to an insufficient extent and the short track sector has (too) little say in this, so that a shortage of participants could arise on certain race days.
• Maintaining collegial relationships with the other stakeholders in the Folk Festival, including the Heemskerk hospitality industry and the Heemskerk Cycling Committee Foundation, in order to provide each other with space for successful operations.
• Cooperation with other harness race associations and foundations. In the IJmond, for example, a direction competition has been set up for the Drivers’ Prize of the IJmond. This has proven to be an effective means of making participation extra attractive for professionals.
• Investigate possibilities for cooperation with sister associations, for example in the field of joint tendering for track construction, insurance, etc. Such agreements already exist in part, via the League of Harness Race Associations and Foundations in the Netherlands, for the hiring of sound/image and competition equipment.
• The continued attention to recruiting volunteers for the crew of the entry ticket offices and other crucial positions during the race.
• Make more use of social media to get the youth more involved in the event.
• Give box office staff and other volunteers more responsibility, to strengthen their bond with the harness racing organisation.
• Entering into multi-year sponsorship contracts to ensure fixed income in the longer term, as well as low-threshold sponsorship opportunities to recruit a larger number of smaller sponsors instead of a few large sponsors.
• In the organisation charts and in the publicity surrounding the event, it is recorded how such possible objections are dealt with. In this way, criticism can be warded off and misunderstandings removed.
• Explanations and clarifications are proactively provided as to why certain measures have been decided on and how they will be dealt with. The board's approach is to provide clear arguments and a reasonable alternative.