ONK in The Netherlands
s.In the 20th century the most famous skating race in The Netherlands was the Eleven cities tour of 200km (Elfstedentocht).. At that time this race on natural ice could be organized 14 times. The last race was held in 1997 Since then this race was not possible any more because of the climat change.
As an alternative for the Elfstedentocht on ice the socalled Bartlehiem tour of 200km on inline skates was introduced with little succes.
Later it was tried again with a tour of 100 km instead of 200km for men and 60 km for women. This race was a succes and has been continued in this cenutry and was organized every year and was open for foreighn participants. Therefore the name changed in Open Nederlands Kampionschap skeeleren (ONK) at Hallum, Hallum is the town where the race starts and ends.
As an alternative for the Elfstedentocht on ice the socalled Bartlehiem tour of 200km on inline skates was introduced with little succes.
Later it was tried again with a tour of 100 km instead of 200km for men and 60 km for women. This race was a succes and has been continued in this cenutry and was organized every year and was open for foreighn participants. Therefore the name changed in Open Nederlands Kampionschap skeeleren (ONK) at Hallum, Hallum is the town where the race starts and ends.
This became quite a popular inline long distance race with participation of stars from maraton skaters on ice and inline skates, men and women . This race has been organized every year except for the two Covid years. The names of the male and female winners have been presented below.
year winning man winning woman
It is interesting to notice that in the 21th century skaters from other countries played an important role in the races. The first two races of the men were won by a skater from France, Phillip Boulard. In the women race the winner in 2002 even came from Colombia, Alexandra Vivas. Later winners came from Belgium, Switzerland,, Australia snd Italy and ofcourse The Netherlands...
Many of the winners were also succesful in the marathon competitions on ice (Irene Schouten and Francesca Lollobr¡igida and many other women of the Netherland. But there were also inline skates who were successful in this race such as the Belgiians Bart Swings and Hilde Goovaerts. and also Garry Hekman and Crispijn Ariens. However, two persons deserve special attention in this context. Hilde Goovaerts from Belgium who won the women race 5 time and Crispijn Ariëns from the Netherlands. He should have won 4 times but once he became second because of an error of the organization of the race as we see in the foto below. In the first position he came at a crossing where the organization did not expect him already and had blocked the road. He should take the road at the right but blockage of this road forced him in the wrong direction. When he detected this it was too late. He became nevertheless the second in this race..
Many of the winners were also succesful in the marathon competitions on ice (Irene Schouten and Francesca Lollobr¡igida and many other women of the Netherland. But there were also inline skates who were successful in this race such as the Belgiians Bart Swings and Hilde Goovaerts. and also Garry Hekman and Crispijn Ariens. However, two persons deserve special attention in this context. Hilde Goovaerts from Belgium who won the women race 5 time and Crispijn Ariëns from the Netherlands. He should have won 4 times but once he became second because of an error of the organization of the race as we see in the foto below. In the first position he came at a crossing where the organization did not expect him already and had blocked the road. He should take the road at the right but blockage of this road forced him in the wrong direction. When he detected this it was too late. He became nevertheless the second in this race..