Science Student

Photo series: Soil Drilling 2025

Resource student editors were there and captured it in text, photos and video.

09-10-2025

This championship’s theme was apocalyptic – ‘this is not a drill’. Photo Yijun Zhu

Text Philip Timmers | photos Yijun Zhu

More than a hundred teams, dressed up in the theme this is not a drill, participated in the annual ground drill competition of student association Pyrus yesterday. Student editor Philip Timmers also hit the drills.

Everyone worked their asses off to enter the Wageningen history books.
Surrounded by groups of students dressed up as frogs, bunny’s, firemen, villains or reptiles, this was an evening not soon to be forgotten.

Walking across the flattened meadow to my plot, I see small fields left and right where two teams duel each time. The aim is for the teams to drill the auger completely into the ground as quickly as possible. The duel ends when one of the teams can put the empty drill in the hole.

One of my teammates had previously competed: ‘If we manage to get the drill into the ground in less than 3 minutes, then fine; under 2 minutes is very good and if we get close to 1 minute we have a chance to win.’ Unfortunately for my team, we did not survive the group phase.

Heroes

As the evening unfolded, the creative costumes became less and less recognisable due to the thick layer of putty mud that covered them from the intensive drilling.

At half past 11, the final was played, a neck-and-neck race between one half of Huize Bibo and the other half of Huize Bibo. Team 1 from Huize Bibo looked set to run away with the win after a good start, but the second team from Huize Bibo recovered and with a strong final sprint, and took the title of the 2025 Pyrus Ground Drill Championship.
The evening ended with much mud wrestling and loud singing of Pyrus’ association song: ‘We are heroes, we are Pyrus, together we go through fire, Pyrus.’