GSAV Vitalis is a young student athletics club which was founded in 1996 by Marco Glastra. Currently the club has 110 members, which makes it the largest student athletics club in the Netherlands. If you want to practice track and field on a high level combined with the typical congeniality of a Dutch student society, Vitalis is the club for you! In the last few years we have won all of the important student competitions at least once. The prize for the best athletics club has been in our hands for several years as well. Our women's team is represented in the second division of the national competition and the men's team in the third division.

The track in Stadspark has all the facilities you need, including fitness facilities. The track and fitness facilities are shared with the civilian athletics club: Groningen Atletiek. Surrounding the track is a park which is perfect for endurance and cross country training, but other areas of Groningen are also used for these purposes.

You have never done athletics before but you would like to try out and learn how to throw a spear? Or you have been running on your own but would like to see some other territory, run under the guidance of an experienced coach and meet other runners? Then Vitalis is also the club for you. For novice athletes we have a beginners group where you can learn all the basics of running, throwing and jumping.

Of course members of Vitalis are also actively involved in the seven yearly Dutch national student championships, as well as relay-events such as the Batavierenrace in the Netherlands and the Hyde Park relays in London. Indoor competitions in Apeldoorn, Gent (BE) and Münster and Dortmund (GER) are regularly attended. We also organise a run for recreationally running students from Groningen in cooperation with the ACLO, the Groningen student sports organisation.

Track and field are fun, but there is more to being part of a students club. That is why we have a partycommittee which organises activities varying from monthly drinks at a bar, to an afternoon of canoeing, a football tournament and eating pancakes on the pancake boat (and much more). On Tuesdays we eat together after practice, when several of our members cook dinner and a lot of people stay and enjoy. We also have a yearly club weekend on one of the Wadden islands (the upper north of the Netherlands), where sports and fun are combined. At home we entertain you with our club newspaper 'het Ei' which is published six times a year, and of course with our website.

The members of Vitalis can be separated in recreational and competitive athletes. As a recreational athlete you can participate in all the training groups. As a competitive athlete you are additionally allowed to participate in all the athletics competitions licensed by the Dutch Athletics Union. Former members can become a part of VUTalis.

Vitalis has the following training groups:

• Sprint (50-400m)
• Middle and long distance (800m-10km)
• Field events (jumping and throwing as well as hurdles)
• Beginners