“Very happy with the result,” says Tijl Maassen, Saurus’s new chairman. His association also had the largest number in 2018 and 2019, but the past two years, they were outdone by KoKo. How did they manage to get on top again? “There was a lot of focus on social media this year. One of our members is very good with video editing. He made quite a lively and accessible promotion film.” In addition, the rowers were very present at INKOM, he says. They had a “very beautiful stall” with oars.
The number of new first-year students for KoKo is not completely certain yet, says secretary Femke Vliex. There were 186 registrations during INKOM. “But those were registrations for the introduction weekend, so not for membership of the association,” Vliex emphasises. The online registrations will be added to that. But how many those are, “I am not at liberty to share just yet”. At any rate, there does appear to be less enthusiasm than in 2020 and 2021; back then, there were 320 and 300, respectively. “The past two years, all associations had an exceptionally high number of registrations due to Covid. You see that that is lessening everywhere.”
Circumflex chairperson Loek Goslinga feels that Covid could indeed be an explanation. His association has also registered fewer members this year: 170 to be precise. In 2021 and 2022, there were about 250. “But in previous years, we had a lot of online registrations and these are less reliable than when people register in person,” Goslinga put things into perspective. “The bottom line is that there are slightly fewer this year compared to last year.” One thing is for sure: “We certainly have enough for the association’s continuity.”