Heros of the Weissensee 200km
Since 1989 yearly a 200km race and several tours are organized at the Weissensee in Austria. These events are in general indicated as the “Alternatieve Elfstedentocht”. The conditions of these races and tours are considerable different from the real “Elfstedentocht” in the Netherlands. Especially the ice and the weather are often much better. The skaters don´t have to walk on their skates through cities or to control posts. Due to these factors the winning time in these 200km races is considerable lower than in the real “Elfstedentocht”. The best time, 6 hours and 47 minutes, in the Netherlands was made in 1985 by Evert van Benthem. In the first race (1989) on the Weissensee Dries van Wijhe realized a time which was more than one hour less, 5 hours and 40 minutes. In fact there is only one race on the Weissensee where the winning time was worse than in the Netherlands.
For the women the difference was even larger. The best time ever in the Netherlands was also in 1985 realized by Lenie van der Hoorn, 7 hours and 33minutes. In the first race on the Weissensee the winning time of Alida Pasveer was 5 hours and 48 minutes. This is a difference of close to two hours.
In order to show the development in the winning times for the men and women the following table is presented.
In order to show the development in the winning times for the men and women the following table is presented.
Several interesting things can be seen in this table. First of all we see that in the first Alternatieve Elfstedentocht the average speed was already around 35km/hour and in 2000 the average speed had increased to close to 40km/hour and that during 5 hours. While the speed in the fasted race in the Netherlands was around 30km/hour. These results are not so precise as they look like because the length of the race always differs a bit. In the fastest race won by Arjan Schreuder the official length was 14 x 14km= 198km. An error of 1 km in each round would make a difference of 14 km. Nevertheless the results were impressive.
Very remarkable is that Alida Pasveer, Gretha Smit and Petra Grimbergen over 200km were nearly as fast as the men. These differences between men and women are relatively small compared with the differences between the male and female skaters after 2007. The explanation is that since 2007 the men and women have a separated race. Before that date the women could skate in the pack of the men if they were able to do so. Since 2007 this is not so any more and this makes quite some difference in speed for the women.
Very remarkable is that Alida Pasveer, Gretha Smit and Petra Grimbergen over 200km were nearly as fast as the men. These differences between men and women are relatively small compared with the differences between the male and female skaters after 2007. The explanation is that since 2007 the men and women have a separated race. Before that date the women could skate in the pack of the men if they were able to do so. Since 2007 this is not so any more and this makes quite some difference in speed for the women.
Gretha Smit says about her result in the fastest 200km race ever by a women where she needed only a few minutes more than the Elfstedentocht winner Henk Angenent and other famous marathon skaters: “This difference was due to the fact that I did not participated in the sprint. I didn´t want problems with them. I was already happy that I was the only woman who stayed in the pack of the men.”
On the question if that had been difficult she answered: “No, it was not difficult for me to follow the men. You just position yourself behind somebody and you skate following in this person´s wake.” (source: www.marathonschaatsen.nl/k000205t)
On the question if that had been difficult she answered: “No, it was not difficult for me to follow the men. You just position yourself behind somebody and you skate following in this person´s wake.” (source: www.marathonschaatsen.nl/k000205t)
This illustrates that women can be as fast as men if they are able to stay in the pack of male skaters. Alida Pasveer, Greta Smit and Petra Grimbergen were able to do so. This is not given to all female marathon skaters but, as we have shown, it happens. These three skaters were indeed very gifted skaters.
This raises the question if the decision to split the men and women race was a good decision? Also many men profit of the fact that they skate in the pack. Otherwise their time would be much worse. Why should women not profit in the same way? If the emphasis is on winning the race even then one could say that the woman who can stay the longest in the pack of men will win the women race; what is wrong with such a result?
This raises the question if the decision to split the men and women race was a good decision? Also many men profit of the fact that they skate in the pack. Otherwise their time would be much worse. Why should women not profit in the same way? If the emphasis is on winning the race even then one could say that the woman who can stay the longest in the pack of men will win the women race; what is wrong with such a result?