The Alternative Elfstedentocht on Sylvan Lake in Canada
Earlier we have written about Evert van Benthem who won the Elfstedentocht twice, in 1985 and 1986. By these successes he became very famous in the Netherlands. Already in 1980 he was thinking of immigrating to Canada became there were limited possibilities to extend his farm in the Netherlands. This plan was delayed by his two victories in the “Elfstedentocht”. This made him so famous that many people were coming to look at his house and farm. This was rather disturbing to him and his family and formed an extra reason for him to reconsider immigration to Canada. This happened in 1999. He settled with his family in the community Spruce View in Alberta.
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This happened to be a very nice area for farming but also forskating on the lakes as this video illustrates. At 26 kilometers from his farm was also Sylvan Lake. Being settled there he started to think after a couple of years again about speed skating. So together, with enthusiast skaters of the region, he made a plan for a “Alternatieve Elfstedentocht”, a tour and race, on the Sylvan Lake. |
In 2003 this plan was tried out with participation of people from Canada and, because it was a success, they then planned to organize the real “Alternative Elfstedentocht” in 2004. He needed for that the support of the Dutch Marathon organization. This request came too late because plans of the marathon competition in the Netherlands were already fixed but an agreement was made that in 2005 the “200km of the Sylvan Lake would be an official race in the Marathon competition of the Netherlands. What now follows is what two Canadian skaters wrote about this event
Report of the Canadians Brian Johnston and Willem Langenberg
In 2005 a group of 50 of the best professional Marathon skaters and 30 Dutch non-professional skating fanatics participated in this “Alternative Elfstedentocht”on the Sylvan Lake together with skaters from other parts of the world: there were participants from 5 Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec), there were skaters from 5 US states (California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts and Michigan), and one skater from France. Seventeen Canadian skaters had skated the 200 km Alternative Elfstedentocht in 2004 under 8 hours and, by doing so, they were qualified for the 2005 race edition. They had the privilege to have skated in 2004 with marathon skating legend Jan Roelof Kruithof, who is still the holder of the 24 hour World Record with a total of 655 km.
In 2005 a group of 50 of the best professional Marathon skaters and 30 Dutch non-professional skating fanatics participated in this “Alternative Elfstedentocht”on the Sylvan Lake together with skaters from other parts of the world: there were participants from 5 Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec), there were skaters from 5 US states (California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts and Michigan), and one skater from France. Seventeen Canadian skaters had skated the 200 km Alternative Elfstedentocht in 2004 under 8 hours and, by doing so, they were qualified for the 2005 race edition. They had the privilege to have skated in 2004 with marathon skating legend Jan Roelof Kruithof, who is still the holder of the 24 hour World Record with a total of 655 km.
The organizing committee was sufficiently familiar with the atmosphere of the real “Elfstedentocht: so a veritable village was set up on the lake, with hot chocolate, snert (pea soup), hamburgers and other hot foods.
The Calgary Speed Skate Cellar was there for repairs and sales as well.
There were close to a thousand spectators for the 200km event, with Pat Seltsam announcing the "play-by-play" action of the skaters. Pat got the fans cheering as the Canadian contingent skating in a train past them.
The Calgary Speed Skate Cellar was there for repairs and sales as well.
There were close to a thousand spectators for the 200km event, with Pat Seltsam announcing the "play-by-play" action of the skaters. Pat got the fans cheering as the Canadian contingent skating in a train past them.
The warming up
The warming-up 50 km event on Thursday went smoothly with all the participants finishing. Henk Angenent (winner of the last real Elfstedentocht 1997) won the race in a time of 1:16 hours with an average speed of 40 km/h. Skaters from the Edmonton Speed Skating Club finished with respectable times. Blaine Hill finished 37th (average speed of 34 km/h). Brian Johnston finished 47th (average 30 kph). Willem Langenberg finished 51st (average 28 km/h) and Richard Roberts finished 65th (average 24 km/h). Dutch skater Danielle Bekkering won the women’s race in a time of 1:29 hours (average 34 km/h).
The warming-up 50 km event on Thursday went smoothly with all the participants finishing. Henk Angenent (winner of the last real Elfstedentocht 1997) won the race in a time of 1:16 hours with an average speed of 40 km/h. Skaters from the Edmonton Speed Skating Club finished with respectable times. Blaine Hill finished 37th (average speed of 34 km/h). Brian Johnston finished 47th (average 30 kph). Willem Langenberg finished 51st (average 28 km/h) and Richard Roberts finished 65th (average 24 km/h). Dutch skater Danielle Bekkering won the women’s race in a time of 1:29 hours (average 34 km/h).
The 200km race
The 200-km race on Saturday went smoothly as well, but there was a high attrition rate. At 7 o´clock the participants of the race started for 20 rounds of 10 km. The first rounds were done quietly, people were looking at each other but later many people tried to get away from the peloton, but there was no way to get away. Henk Angenent did not see a possibility to change this situation and decided to stop after 120 km. Several of the top marathon skaters followed his example. At the last rounds Ron van Meggelen and Helling could get ahead of the last remaining 7 professional marathon skaters and of these two Rob Van Meggelen of the Netherlands won this event with a time of 5:33 hours and an average speed of 36 km/h.
The 200-km race on Saturday went smoothly as well, but there was a high attrition rate. At 7 o´clock the participants of the race started for 20 rounds of 10 km. The first rounds were done quietly, people were looking at each other but later many people tried to get away from the peloton, but there was no way to get away. Henk Angenent did not see a possibility to change this situation and decided to stop after 120 km. Several of the top marathon skaters followed his example. At the last rounds Ron van Meggelen and Helling could get ahead of the last remaining 7 professional marathon skaters and of these two Rob Van Meggelen of the Netherlands won this event with a time of 5:33 hours and an average speed of 36 km/h.
The results of the Canadians
The Edmonton speed skaters finished with respectable times. Blaine Hill finished 21st averaging 28 kph, Russell Gottschalk finished 23rd averaging 27 kph, Brian Johnston finished 27th averaging 25 kph, and Willem Langenberg finished 28th averaging 25 kph. We had been skating in a train because in these long-distance races, it is much easier and a lot more fun to skate with a group of skaters at a comfortable speed than trying to do it on your own. Our main goal was to help Suzanne Dionne finish within 8 hours, in which we succeeded and which gave Suzanne 3rd place of the women and prize money.
The Edmonton speed skaters finished with respectable times. Blaine Hill finished 21st averaging 28 kph, Russell Gottschalk finished 23rd averaging 27 kph, Brian Johnston finished 27th averaging 25 kph, and Willem Langenberg finished 28th averaging 25 kph. We had been skating in a train because in these long-distance races, it is much easier and a lot more fun to skate with a group of skaters at a comfortable speed than trying to do it on your own. Our main goal was to help Suzanne Dionne finish within 8 hours, in which we succeeded and which gave Suzanne 3rd place of the women and prize money.
The 200 km women's race was won by Danielle Bekkering of the Netherlands in a time of 6:29 hours (average 31 kph), with Antoinette Voskuil being second and Suzanne Dionne from Ottawa became third.
Because Henk Angenent and Erik Hulzebosch (number 2 of the 1997 Elfstedentocht) did not finish the race, the Canadian skaters proudly could say that they had beaten these two famous Dutch skaters of the last real Elfstedentocht! The official results of this "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht can be found on the website Marathon Skating International.
Because Henk Angenent and Erik Hulzebosch (number 2 of the 1997 Elfstedentocht) did not finish the race, the Canadian skaters proudly could say that they had beaten these two famous Dutch skaters of the last real Elfstedentocht! The official results of this "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht can be found on the website Marathon Skating International.
Since then the "Alternatieve Elfstedentocht" has not been held anymore but there were 100 km races on Sylvan Lake between 2009 and 2016. There is still a lot of marathon skating going on in different parts of Canada, such as in Edmonton at the Silver Skate Festival, in Portland (Ontario) and in Quebec in 2018. There are also plans to revive the 100 Km races on Sylvan Lake in 2019.