The Elfstedentocht on inline skates
During the last century the “Elfstedentocht” (Eleven cities tour) on ice of around 200 km could be organized 14 times. There is a speed skating race and a tour. The tour skaters had to skate the 200 km in one day starting early in the morning and had to arrive before 12 at night. Sometimes this was only possible for very few people. For example in 1963 less than 70 finished while 11000 skaters started that day. This made the tour extremely popular and the people who finished the tour became heros. The ice tour starts in Leeuwarden, the capital of the provence Friesland, and ends there also.
Unfortunately, due to the climat change, this event could not be organized between 1963 and 1985. In 1986 the tour was again possible. This made the tour so popular that people wanted such a tour every year but that was ofcourse not possible. Therefore the idea was developed to skate the tour also on inline skates.
Unfortunately, due to the climat change, this event could not be organized between 1963 and 1985. In 1986 the tour was again possible. This made the tour so popular that people wanted such a tour every year but that was ofcourse not possible. Therefore the idea was developed to skate the tour also on inline skates.
FAlready in 1987 the first Eelevencities race was organized going through the same eleven cities as the real Elfstedentocht. The only difference was that this tour on inline skates took place in the summer. In this race 170 skaters. Many of them skated in the last “Elfstedentocht” on ice in 1986. The photo of this race is presented at the side. In the video of the race one can see how hard the race was: Of the 170 skaters only 26 finished the race. In the first part of the race, groups of skaters were too reckless, their speed was around 35 km/hora. Also for famous skaters on ice this speed was too high. The strongest skater in that period on ice and on wheel, Dries van Wijhe, won this race, finishing alone. A video of this first Elfstedenntocht on inline skates can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JExuIjK4uw
.His comment after winning the race was that this race was extremely demanding but he also said that the people who wanted to participate should have known that this race would be very demanding. The comment later on was that in the real “Elfstedentocht” in 1963 less than 1% of the participants finished the tour and this is an important aspect of this sport event.
The next year there was again a race of 200km on wheels. The difference was that in this case the route did not pass through all the cities of the real “Elfstedentocht”. In this way it was possible to realize a route on a better track and avoid a lot of traffic problems. The participants had learned from the previous time. They started less fast but in general the race was rather fast. In the end skaters, Jillert Anema and Eric Hulzenbos, who are now well know were in the front. Eric Hulzenbos, being 19 years old, won the race in a time equal to the time of Dries van Wijhe in the first “Alternatieve Elfstedentocht” on the Weissensee : 6 hours and 47 minutes.
After these two races there has been no repetition of this sport event in the later years. As an alternative the Bartlehiemtocht of 100km was organized.
The "Elfstedentocht" for tour skaters has been organized on a regular basis by a skating club in Bantinga. That such a tour is not so easy but very nice to do, has been reported by Karen Smit in the next story.
The next year there was again a race of 200km on wheels. The difference was that in this case the route did not pass through all the cities of the real “Elfstedentocht”. In this way it was possible to realize a route on a better track and avoid a lot of traffic problems. The participants had learned from the previous time. They started less fast but in general the race was rather fast. In the end skaters, Jillert Anema and Eric Hulzenbos, who are now well know were in the front. Eric Hulzenbos, being 19 years old, won the race in a time equal to the time of Dries van Wijhe in the first “Alternatieve Elfstedentocht” on the Weissensee : 6 hours and 47 minutes.
After these two races there has been no repetition of this sport event in the later years. As an alternative the Bartlehiemtocht of 100km was organized.
The "Elfstedentocht" for tour skaters has been organized on a regular basis by a skating club in Bantinga. That such a tour is not so easy but very nice to do, has been reported by Karen Smit in the next story.