Elfstedentocht

The course of the Elfstedentocht of 1997 (skated in a clockwise direction, as in '85, '86, '97)

Video of the Elfstedentocht of 1954 (commentary in Dutch)

The Elfstedentocht (or, in West Frisian, Alvestêdetocht, English translation: "Eleven Cities Tour") is the world's largest and longest speed skating competition and leisure skating tour, and is held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.

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.

Since the Elfstedentocht is such a rare event, its declaration creates excitement all over the country. As soon as a few days pass with sub-zero temperatures, the media start speculating about the chances for an Elfstedentocht. The longer the freezing temperatures stay, the more intense this "Elfstedenkoorts" (eleven-city tour fever) gets - culminating in a national near-frenzy when the magic words "It giet oan" ("it is on!" in Frisian) are spoken to announce that the tour is actually taking place. 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 either stay home to watch the race on television or find a place along the route to cheer on the skaters.

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.

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

Competitors of the first (1909) Elfstedentocht

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.

Winners

De Bullemolen, along the canal "Bonke-vaart", the finishing point of the Elfstedentocht

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

Year	Winner	Time	Distance	Average speed
1909	[Rev] Minne Hoekstra(NL)	13:50	189 km	13.7 km/h
1912	Coen de Koning	11:40	189 km	16.2 km/h
1917	Coen de Koning	9:53	189 km	19.1 km/h
1929	Karst Leemburg(NL)	11:09	191 km	17.1 km/h
1933	Abe de Vries(NL) and Sipke Castelein(NL)	9:53	195 km	19.7 km/h
1940	Piet Keijzer(NL), Auke Adema(NL), Cor Jongert(NL), Durk van der Duim(NL) and Sjouke Westra(NL)	11:30	198.5 km	17.3 km/h
1941	Auke Adema(NL)	9:19	198.5 km	21.3 km/h
1942	Sietze de Groot(NL)	8:44	198 km	22.7 km/h
1947	Jan van der Hoorn(NL)	10:51	191 km	17.6 km/h
1954	Jeen van den Berg(NL)	7:35	198.5 km	26.2 km/h
1956	no winner declared (**)	—	190.5 km	—
1963	Reinier Paping(NL)	10:59	196.5 km	17.9 km/h
1985	Evert van Benthem(NL)	6:47	196.8 km	29.0 km/h
1986	Evert van Benthem(NL)	6:55	199.3 km	28.8 km/h
1997	Henk Angenent	6:49	199.6 km	29.3 km/h

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^(NL)
• 1986 - Tineke Dijkshoorn^(NL)
• 1997 - Klasina Seinstra^(NL)

(**) 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 not disqualified, but no winner was declared.

The eleven cities

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

Fietselfstedentocht (Eleven cities by bicycle)

Departure of the Elfstedentocht cycling tour in 2006

Main article: Eleven Cities Cycling Tour

The eleven cities cycle race was first held in 1912 and developed in parallel with its skating counterpart, but unlike the skating race, has taken place on almost every year - apart from the 2001 event which was cancelled due to foot and mouth disease, it has taken place on Whit Monday every year since 1947. The event has become immensely popular and as a safety precaution it ceased to be a race but has become a tour with a maximum average speed of 25 km/h between checkpoints.

The race, which starts and ends in Bolsward rather than Leeuwarden, is currently limited to 15,000 entrants. Between 05:00 and 08:00, entrants leave Bolsward every eight minutes in batches of about 600 and those who complete the 240 km course before midnight receive medals.

References

• The Greatest Skating Race book by Louise Borden.

External links

• Elfstedentocht - Official website of the Royal Society De Friesche Elf Steden (Dutch)
• 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
• Eleven City Tour in Friesland