Lars Lammens (21) eats 60 bars in half an hour and is the first Belgian champion to eat bitterballen | member

The most memorable was the BK Bitterballen in which the participants had to eat as many bitter balls as possible in half an hour. Only nine dared to take on this challenge. As expected in a youth center, most of them were young men. However, Arnout Willockx turns out to be the aging dean of the service. After a few words of encouragement, he, too, accepted the “Help Hunger” challenge.

Anyone who expected participants to devour bitterballen at such a rapid pace was disappointed. With a lot of discipline, hundreds of bitterballen disappeared into the mouths of the participants at a comfortable pace. They can have as much sauce and water as needed. Very soon in the match, Willockx turns out to be the first player to surrender. At that time he had eaten 25 times.

“Good deal: I haven’t eaten yet and paid 10 euros for 25 glasses of water and two glasses of water,” he joked. Toward the end, more and more participants—not even with more bitterballen than Willockx in the stomach—withdrew. The battle eventually took place between Lemtie De Pauw and twin brothers Robbe and Lars Lammens. Encouraged by an audience of, among others, Saudi Arabia’s Sint-Gerolf Lede and Scout Lede, they quickly made it past 50 bitterballen. In the end, 21-year-old Lars Lammens won 60 in the last minute.

Satisfied, with a feeling of sickness in the stomach and a bucket as a precaution, he then entered the table to receive the first golden and bitter cup. “And I say my brother Jorn scored me and so I just ate this evening. I wasn’t expecting this, but now I might be better off backstage with a bucket,” he told us immediately after the match. As a bonus, he was given two drink cards worth twenty euros “and we add five pita pieces on top,” the head of the youth center Jules Vandenbussche joked.

He was also satisfied with Vandenbussche after 2.5 years of preparatory work and renovation for the new youth centre. “We have finally left and it looks good.” This was partly due to the amazing selection of activities for both young and old. “We have deliberately chosen the children’s activities on Saturday because they are our future members.” It also turns out that this is the reason for bringing in Frederic de Kramer, partner and children Tour (13) and Lind (11), among others. “I spent hundreds of hours here myself, but they had no idea what a youth center was. So it is good that a young man once again gets a place in my liege.”

Together with his contemporaries, the guy reminded of the legendary desert parties of the late Lyric hostel. “I remember weekends where we first shoveled 20 tons of sand, had an indoor championship in the long jump, and immediately shoveled all the sand again after the desert party.” There are no similar plans for Bidong yet. “The number one goal is to try to be open every Friday evening from now on,” Vandenbusch said.

This is already the case on Friday 5 August. “Starting at 8 p.m., we’ll start throwing away the leftover drink and making a surprise show.” The youth center is also still looking for additional staff, among other things, for the bar team. Do you want to know more about Beidong Youth Center? Take a look at the Facebook pageBedong hostelOr contact Caro Van Herrewegen, Jules Vandenbussche, Basiel Adams, Stef Schelfhout, Jelle De Vuyst, Jens De Sutter or another member of staff.