Saying the Dutch are pretty good skaters is like saying Tiger Woods is pretty good at golf. They best be, considering they’ve been doing it since before the 14th century.
Only the Dutch would combine the endurance of a marathon with the ridiculous freezing cold of the North Sea. Think of it as the Iditarod of ice skating. The Dutch call it Elfstedentocht, or the 11-city tour, starting and ending in the Friesland capital of Leeuwarden, and following a route through: Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum. That race length is 200 km (124 miles).
One of the things that makes the Elfstedentocht so special is that it can only be held in years where the temperature is below -10C to ensure the ice has frozen to the minimum requirement of 15cm in thickness. Further, that has to be sustained for a full 7 days in order to determine a winner.
The winter of 2009 had a few days of skating, but the last official race was back in 1997. Maybe there is something to this global-warming thing. Most of us can only hope to experience this amazing event from the sidelines. You have to be a member of the Elfstedentocht Union to actually compete, which was capped to the 15.000 members it has today. It didn’t happen this year, so let’s wait and see if next year has better luck.
Mon, Jun 15, 2009
Netherlands