Elfstedentocht: Dutch speed skating race could take place

Thanks to our friends at DUTCHNEWS.nl for this report taking in full. Followed with a quick explantion of the course and history of the race from Wikipedia.

'Cautious chance' that 200km skating race will be held

Monday 06 February 2012

There is a ‘cautious chance’ that the famous Frisian 11-city skating race or Elfstedentocht will be held in the current cold snap, Wiebe Wieling, chairman of the race association, told a news conference on Monday morning.

The ice in the north of the province is ‘fantastic’ but still not good enough in the south, Wieling said. 'That gives us cause for concern,’ Wieling said. In particular, the ice is not strong enough on the Sltoermeer and is weak at Stavoren and Luts.

The association is now looking at possible alternative routes. ‘But at the moment we are far from the necessary 15 cm of ice. In some places it is far too thin,’ Wieling is reported as saying by news agency ANP.

Prospects

The 22 local ice association chiefs met on Sunday evening to discuss the prospects. There have been 15 of the grueling 200 kilometre races since the event first took place in 1909.

Leeuwarden is both start and finish of the event, which takes in the 11 'cities' of Friesland: Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum.

The cold snap, with temperatures as low as -15 Celsius at night, is set to continue for the rest of the week.

If the race goes ahead, thousands of people will take part in an event that was last held in 1997. However, to join in, participants must be a member of the Elfstedentocht association.

Elfstedentocht
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Elfstedentocht (or, in West Frisian, Alvestêdetocht, English translation: "Eleven Cities Tour"), at 200 km, is the world's largest and longest speed skating competition and leisure skating tour, and is held in the province of Friesland, Netherlands only when the ice along the entire course is 15 cm thick.

Course description

The tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven historic Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum then returning to Leeuwarden. The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice. The last editions were in 1985, 1986 and 1997.

Adding to that, the tour currently features about 15,000 amateur skaters taking part, putting high requirements on the quality of the ice. There is a stated regulatory requirement for the race to take place that the ice must be (and remain at) a minimum thickness of 15 centimetres along the entirety of the course. All skaters must be a member of the Association of the Eleven Frisian Cities. A starting permit is required. Further more, in each city the skater must collect a stamp, as well as a stamp from the three secret check points. The skater must finish before midnight.

The finishing point of the Elfstedentocht is a canal near Leeuwarden, called the "Bonkevaart". Close to the "Bonkevaart" is the famous landmark windmill, De Bullemolen, Lekkum.

History

As early as 1760, there has been mentioning of skaters visiting all eleven cities of Friesland on one day. Therefore, the Elfstedentocht was already part of Frisian tradition, when in 1890, Pim Mulier conceived the idea of an organised tour, which was first held in 1909. After this race, the Vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden (Association of the Eleven Frisian Cities) was established to take care of the organisation.

The Elfstedentocht of 1963 is known as "The hell of '63" when only 1% of the contestants finished the race, due to the extremely low temperatures -18°C and a harsh eastern wind. Conditions were so horrendous that the winner of '63, Reinier Paping, became a national hero, and the tour itself legendary.

After '63, the next Elfstedentocht did not take place until 1985, over 20 years later. Times had changed. In 1963 and before, one of the best methods to stay warm during the tour was to put newspapers underneath the clothes. During the 20 years between the tours of '63 and '85, clothing, training methods and skates became much more advanced, changing the nature of skating for ever.

The tour of 1985 was ended prematurely. As early as 22:00 in the evening, skaters were taken off the ice because of thawing. In 1986 the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander participated in the Elfstedentocht, under the name W.A. van Buren. In January 2010, the Dutch website Sportgeschiedenis.nl [geschiedenis = history] published allegations that since Willem-Alexander had not registered until the day of the race, his entry was irregular.