Grand Prix series of long distance races on natural ice
Egbert Lambers
In 2006 after 8 iceless winters in the Netherlands, the marathon section of the Royal Dutch Skating Union, decided to get in touch with the organizers of succesfull ice races at locations that were very likely to have ice every year, especially in Austria and Scandinavia. In 2007 this resulted in a series of 3 long distance ice races varying from 80 to 150 km: The Aart Koopmans Memorial on Weissensee and 2 more races on Lake Runn in the province Dalarna in Sweden.
The first series was named after the sponsor: Essent World Cup series. Although most of the participants were Dutch, the first overal winner of this series of races was the French former inline skater Tristan Loy.
In 2006 after 8 iceless winters in the Netherlands, the marathon section of the Royal Dutch Skating Union, decided to get in touch with the organizers of succesfull ice races at locations that were very likely to have ice every year, especially in Austria and Scandinavia. In 2007 this resulted in a series of 3 long distance ice races varying from 80 to 150 km: The Aart Koopmans Memorial on Weissensee and 2 more races on Lake Runn in the province Dalarna in Sweden.
The first series was named after the sponsor: Essent World Cup series. Although most of the participants were Dutch, the first overal winner of this series of races was the French former inline skater Tristan Loy.
In following years the organisations in Kuopio, and the 5km artifical ice circuit in Flevonice in the Netherlands joined the group. In 2008 the 200 km Alternative Eleven cities race of Weissensee was also incorporated in the series and from that moment it was officially called Grand Prix Natural Ice This inspired the organisers to include more 200km races like in 2009 the Falun race.
This race, won by Ruud Aerts created history because Kurt Wubben who after 170 km was leading the pack by a comfortable margin of 6 minutes collapsed due to lack of food. It was even so bad that his teammanager took his mountain bike and went out to help him finish the last two kilometers.
This race, won by Ruud Aerts created history because Kurt Wubben who after 170 km was leading the pack by a comfortable margin of 6 minutes collapsed due to lack of food. It was even so bad that his teammanager took his mountain bike and went out to help him finish the last two kilometers.
Kurt took revenge the next year when he won the last Grand Prix race in Kuopio after an impressive solo performance.
Here we see Kurt Wubben leading leading the 2011 Weissensee team pursuit ahead of team mate Jaap Smit.
Here we see Kurt Wubben leading leading the 2011 Weissensee team pursuit ahead of team mate Jaap Smit.
Finally in 2013 also the Reschensee on the border of Italy and Austria was included in the possible candidates to organize one of the races. This lake was created by building a dam in the valley. Due to this several villages disappeared under the water except the tower of the 14th century old chirch. The legend says that during the winter one can still hear church bells ring.
Now there is a sufficient number of possible places to be sure that every year a competion over several races on natural ice can be organize every year. For example in 2013 the circuit consisted of the races indicated in the table below.
The winner of the series of races is determined by given points to the first 20 arriving people in each race. The faster ones getting more points. The winner of the series is the skater with the most points over all races.
Besides races for the honor the skaters can also get some money for their efforts. However as we can see in the table below this cannot be the reason why this skating circuit on natural ice is such a succes. It is more probably that the honor of winning these races gives the skaters their motivation. However only few can win. The fact that they say that skating on natural ice is the “Heaven” may also be one of the reasons
Besides races for the honor the skaters can also get some money for their efforts. However as we can see in the table below this cannot be the reason why this skating circuit on natural ice is such a succes. It is more probably that the honor of winning these races gives the skaters their motivation. However only few can win. The fact that they say that skating on natural ice is the “Heaven” may also be one of the reasons
Whatever the reason is but by now the international Grand Prix circuit Natural Ice is one of the most prestigious events for all ambitious marathon skaters.