Elfstedentocht

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The Elfstedentocht (English translation: "Journey of Eleven Cities") is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands^[1].

The tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum and finally again Leeuwarden. The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice. 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.

There are likely to be points along the route where the ice is too thin to allow mass skating, or where there is some other problem (e.g., there is actually an organisation "Committee Elfsteden Nee" that is opposed to the race and sabotaged the route in 1997 by laying salt on the ice at one place). These are called "kluning points" (from West Frisian klúnje) and the skaters walk on their skates to the next stretch of good ice. In 1997 ice-transplantation was introduced to strengthen weak places in the ice, for instance under bridges.

Since the Elfstedentocht is such a rare occurrence, its declaration creates excitement all over the country. The day before the race many Dutch flock to Leeuwarden to enjoy the party atmosphere that surrounds the event. The evening before the race called the "Nacht van Leeuwarden" (Night of Leeuwarden) becomes a giant city-wide street party (Frisians, who have a reputation of surliness, are said to thaw when it freezes). At the day of the race most Frisians and Dutchmen stay home to watch the race on television.

Departure of the cycling tour in 2006

Although the speed-skating is most commonly known by people, other variants include: cycling ^[2] (including human powered wheelchairs), kick-scootering, motorcycling, rowing, walking (in 5 days) and even gliding.

History

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) ^[3]was established to take care of the organisation.

In 1963, only 1% of the contestants finished the race, due to the extremely low temperatures ( -18° C) = 0.4 Fahrenheit and a harsh eastern wind.

In 1986 the Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander participated in the Elfstedentocht, under the name W.A. van Buren.

Winners

The time taken for the winner to complete the course is given in hours and minutes.^[4]

Women were first allowed to take part in the race in 1985. Before, women had to skate with the amateurs and no award was given. The women to cross the finish line first were:

• 1985 - *Lenie van der Hoorn
• 1986 - *Tineke Dijkshoorn
• 1997 - *Klasina Seinstra

(*) Links point to the Dutch language version of Wikipedia.

(**) After shared wins in 1933 and 1940, when the leaders at the front decided not to compete but join hands to cross the line together, this practice was forbidden by the organisation. Jan van der Hoorn, Aad de Koning, Jeen Nauta, Maus Wijnhout and Anton Verhoeven however ignored this rule when they crossed the finish line in unison. They were disqualified, and no winner was declared.

The Eleven Frisian Cities

Route of the Elfstedentocht.

This is the route of the Elfstedentocht when it is skated in a clockwise direction, as in 1985, 1986 and 1997. The distances between the cities can vary slightly, depending on the exact route; those given here are those of 1997.

• 0 km: Leeuwarden
• 22 km: Sneek
• 26 km: IJlst (municipality Wymbritseradiel)
• 40 km: Sloten (mun. Gaasterlân-Sleat)
• 66 km: Stavoren (mun. Nijefurd)
• 77 km: Hindeloopen (mun. Nijefurd)
• 86 km: Workum (mun. Nijefurd)
• 99 km: Bolsward
• 116 km: Harlingen
• 129 km: Franeker (mun. Franekeradeel)
• 174 km: Dokkum (mun. Dongeradeel)
• 199 km: Leeuwarden

External links

• Route of the Elfstedentocht on Google Maps
• http://www.drf.nl/sport/11steden/indexeng.htm
• Henk Kroes, Ice Master of the Elfstedentocht, on the impact of climate change

References

• The Greatest Skating Race book by Louise Borden.