The tour in 1963 of Kees Bovée
Kees Bovée was born in 1932 in a small village, Halsteren, in the south of the Netherlands. In general there was little interest in skating in the south of the Netherlands because there were less opportunities to skate. This was not true for his family. His father was a fanatic participant in “Schoonrijden”. Kees Bovée himself started to skate when he was young in the skating club of Halsteren. In 1947 he got to know about the “elfstedentocht”. In 1954 he was not allowed to participate because he was doing his obligatory military service . Two years later there was another “Elfstedentocht”: In that case he participated and finished the tour in time. This experience he liked so much that he prepared all the necessities for the next tour. So when the tour was organized again in 1963 he only had to put his clothes for the tour in his suite case and went with some friends to Leeuwarden. About this tour he has written a report that was published in “De mannen van ´63" by Koolhaas and Van Vooren. I will provide a short, freely translated version of his report.
“I started in the first group of tour skaters at 5.50h. At that moment it was 18 degrees below zero and the predictions were: strong wind with force 7, very bad ice and at many places snow on the ice. The ice was indeed very bad. There was a top layer of melted snow that was frozen again on the old ice. You had to forget the skating style you had learned. One had to skate with more space between the legs so that one can more easily cope with unbalances. One also had to skate on the back of the skates to cross the frozen snow. There was a small strip cleaned where the skaters had to skate behind each other and it was very difficult to pass each other. Worse was that many skaters fell and then you had to try and avoid to fall over them. If I fell myself, I tried to roll as quickly as possible to the site of the skating strip. There were many accidents and many people had to stop very early because of serious injuries. If you start with the proper mind for a 200 km tour you are willing to accept very hard blows. To my surprise my body remained functioning without problems under these circumstances. Just before Staveren I got a hit by a skate of a person that fell in front of me. I got a bleeding wound in my leg but there was no help at that place so I had to go on. After 15 minutes the bleeding stopped. The blood was in my trousers fixed to my leg”.
In this way he went on till Franeker, having skated 130km.There he arrived at 15.15. This was an hour and 45 minutes earlier than I did (but I started an hour later than he did). So he was allowed to continue in the “Hell of the North” as it was called. I was stopped in Franeker at 17.00h in order to prevent serious problems. This was a proper decision of the organization of the “Elfstedentocht” as we will see in the description of the experiences of Kees Bovée.
In this way he went on till Franeker, having skated 130km.There he arrived at 15.15. This was an hour and 45 minutes earlier than I did (but I started an hour later than he did). So he was allowed to continue in the “Hell of the North” as it was called. I was stopped in Franeker at 17.00h in order to prevent serious problems. This was a proper decision of the organization of the “Elfstedentocht” as we will see in the description of the experiences of Kees Bovée.
“After Franeker the skating track was completely full of snow so that we had to walk. Our group consisted of 6 people of whom I was the only tour skater, the others participated in the race. I have skated with this group during an hour, regularly changing the front position. Slowly we got to know each other´s skating capacities and we supported each other when one got into trouble. There was one man of 40 years. We waited several times for him. All the problems we encountered created comradery between us that suggested to us not to leave this man behind in this desert of ice and snow. Skating he had no problems but walking through snow he was lagging behind us.
Halfway between Franeker and Bartlehiem we stopped for a moment for a cup of soup when a group of 20 people passed by. “Let´s go”, I called to my group, “with so many people it is easier”. But my comrades had not finished their soup, me neither, but I left it and went with this group. Later I heard that they had rested 15 minutes there and were taken out of the tour a bit later (by the organization of the tour to prevent accidents).
Halfway between Franeker and Bartlehiem we stopped for a moment for a cup of soup when a group of 20 people passed by. “Let´s go”, I called to my group, “with so many people it is easier”. But my comrades had not finished their soup, me neither, but I left it and went with this group. Later I heard that they had rested 15 minutes there and were taken out of the tour a bit later (by the organization of the tour to prevent accidents).
"From that point on it looked as if we went into “small Siberia”. One could not skate any more there was a very strong wind and a lot of snow was blown on the ice. It was terrible. It also started to get dark. For the first time this day I got cold feet and they started to hurt after 12 hours in these small skating shoes. I had a lot of problems to stay with this group till Barthlehiem. Then I detected that I had a collapse. I did not see myself go on anymore but a voice told me: “You got so far, don´t stop others go on too. The whole school will laugh at you if you don´t finish being the gymnastics teacher in the school". I wanted to prevent this. In a tent I was offered warm milk and cheese which were most welcome after eating dextrose and resins during the whole day. Then I went with one other person on my way to Dokkum (The before last city of the tour). To our surprise we could skate again on this canal, the Dokkumer Ee. In this way I overcame my collapse, but we had to skate against a very strong wind and clouds of snow blew over the ice. Many times I lost my skating rhythm falling due to the many cracks in the ice. One had also to take care of thefloes lying over each other. This had caused by boats some weeks ago. Besides I got cramps in my legs which indicated that my muscles had had it. Soon I felt that my eyes started to behave strangely. If I closed them I felt a fierce cold but I was not worried about that. I was still seeing well, I thought, but the reality was different. My eyes were frozen. At some point I asked my comrade of that moment: “Do you also have so much problems because of the fog?” I had difficulty to find my way. I got a lot of support from my comrade. At 19.30h we arrived in Dokkum where still people were standing along the canal. What a cosy atmosphere after all the hours of hard work in loneliness. The cheers of the Frisian people touch you. You let it come over you like a hot shower. You wave back and enjoy it.”
This description of the skating on the Dokkumer Ee is not specific for the tour of 1963. The ice on this canal is mostly
very bad because the boats use this canal till a very late moment in the winter. The consequence is that the skaters who are delayed and arrive in the dark at the Dokkumer Ee after 175 kilometers are confronted with this bad ice in the dark with all the consequences as described by Kees Bovée for 1963 but also by me in the tour of 1986. Frozen eyes or other parts of the body are also a common experience in the “Elfstedentochten” The nice experience of the reception in Dokkum is a common phenomenon that all skaters who have come so far have experienced as a fantastic support for the last part of the tour.
This description of the skating on the Dokkumer Ee is not specific for the tour of 1963. The ice on this canal is mostly
very bad because the boats use this canal till a very late moment in the winter. The consequence is that the skaters who are delayed and arrive in the dark at the Dokkumer Ee after 175 kilometers are confronted with this bad ice in the dark with all the consequences as described by Kees Bovée for 1963 but also by me in the tour of 1986. Frozen eyes or other parts of the body are also a common experience in the “Elfstedentochten” The nice experience of the reception in Dokkum is a common phenomenon that all skaters who have come so far have experienced as a fantastic support for the last part of the tour.
Really special for the tour of 1963 is what now follows. Let us give Kees Bovée again the word to tell this horror story about the last 24 km.
"Leaving Dokkum it went nicely fast with the wind in the back. Annoying was that here and there were heaps of snow which I saw too late. With a speed of 25 km /hour I hitted on the heaps and fell like a shot duck on the ice or the snow. Quickly my knees and elbows hearted a lot. Back in Barthlehiem I drunk two cups of coffee although I never drink coffee. Perhaps it was the doping I needed to reach Leeuwarden. In order to sheer us up they said there “It is now only 7 km and the ice is quite good”. But they didn´t know, they had not been there. The worst part of the tour was left for the end. There was really no ice track anymore. Walking in the snow close to Oudkerk we did not detect the curve in the canal to the right. We went on in the land. We were completely lost. At some point we reached a fence. We climbed over it. It was an endless snow landscape. If there was only 5 cm snow it was no problem but sometimes it was 40 or 50 cm, then I did not lift my feet high enough and fell head over heels in the snow. The difference in level I did not detect.
Fortunately, the person I was with, came from Leeuwarden. He detected at a distance the lights of Leeuwarden which I could not see. I had to stay at any costs with him otherwise I would get lost in this polar night. My instinct for self-preservation came over me and gave me extreme powers. There was one relieve with each step we came a bit closed to Leeuwarden. We were fighting against the elements, wind , cold and snow but there was no ice to see. I felt lonely and awful. I stumbled through a polar night completely at the end of my forces and all this for a very small little piece of medal, the medal of the “Elfstedentocht”. Sometimes I had the intention to stay lying of the ground after a fall. So exhausted I was that I thought, here I would lay well. This would definitely have led to undercooling and probably I would have been frozen to death. I also asked myself how long I could go on like this? It was not only physically hard but also mentally. We walked through a piece of a polder where one could see neither a person nor a farm. Fortunately my body remained moving automatically; left right, left right etc. If this is the fun of participating in the “Elfstedentocht” and you have to worry about your life then I don´t want to do it anymore. I started to hate this Ice classic.
After two hours for the last 7 kilometers we were again on the track, the snowing had stopped and my comrade said “Only 300 meters more” .Indeed there were two people of the organization to receive us. One stopped me because I could not do it myself anymore. I have done it, I sheered inside but I was happier about the fact that this misery was over than that I had finished the “Elfstedentocht” in time to get the medal. In the bus that brought us to the center of Leeuwarden all the participants were probably in the same mood, all were staring in front of them, being completely exhausted like me”.
In the video below Kees Boveé says in Dutch what I have reproduced here in English. The video shows the pictures that belong to this text.
"Leaving Dokkum it went nicely fast with the wind in the back. Annoying was that here and there were heaps of snow which I saw too late. With a speed of 25 km /hour I hitted on the heaps and fell like a shot duck on the ice or the snow. Quickly my knees and elbows hearted a lot. Back in Barthlehiem I drunk two cups of coffee although I never drink coffee. Perhaps it was the doping I needed to reach Leeuwarden. In order to sheer us up they said there “It is now only 7 km and the ice is quite good”. But they didn´t know, they had not been there. The worst part of the tour was left for the end. There was really no ice track anymore. Walking in the snow close to Oudkerk we did not detect the curve in the canal to the right. We went on in the land. We were completely lost. At some point we reached a fence. We climbed over it. It was an endless snow landscape. If there was only 5 cm snow it was no problem but sometimes it was 40 or 50 cm, then I did not lift my feet high enough and fell head over heels in the snow. The difference in level I did not detect.
Fortunately, the person I was with, came from Leeuwarden. He detected at a distance the lights of Leeuwarden which I could not see. I had to stay at any costs with him otherwise I would get lost in this polar night. My instinct for self-preservation came over me and gave me extreme powers. There was one relieve with each step we came a bit closed to Leeuwarden. We were fighting against the elements, wind , cold and snow but there was no ice to see. I felt lonely and awful. I stumbled through a polar night completely at the end of my forces and all this for a very small little piece of medal, the medal of the “Elfstedentocht”. Sometimes I had the intention to stay lying of the ground after a fall. So exhausted I was that I thought, here I would lay well. This would definitely have led to undercooling and probably I would have been frozen to death. I also asked myself how long I could go on like this? It was not only physically hard but also mentally. We walked through a piece of a polder where one could see neither a person nor a farm. Fortunately my body remained moving automatically; left right, left right etc. If this is the fun of participating in the “Elfstedentocht” and you have to worry about your life then I don´t want to do it anymore. I started to hate this Ice classic.
After two hours for the last 7 kilometers we were again on the track, the snowing had stopped and my comrade said “Only 300 meters more” .Indeed there were two people of the organization to receive us. One stopped me because I could not do it myself anymore. I have done it, I sheered inside but I was happier about the fact that this misery was over than that I had finished the “Elfstedentocht” in time to get the medal. In the bus that brought us to the center of Leeuwarden all the participants were probably in the same mood, all were staring in front of them, being completely exhausted like me”.
In the video below Kees Boveé says in Dutch what I have reproduced here in English. The video shows the pictures that belong to this text.
This is just one example of a description of the last part of the tour several people told similar stories. In fact I got the same reaction in my tour of 1986, which was much less extreme and I fell "only" 22 times at this last part in the dark. This raises the question: why this tour, nevertheless, is so popular? For the answer to this question we can again look at what Kees Bovée says about it.
“Three weeks I had water in my knees and during a year I could not rest on my elbows. When I went to the church I could not kneel on my knees neither rest on my elbows. "Pain is nice" was not part of my vocabulary. It was the most terrible “Elfstedentocht in the history, just on the coldest day of the year, in the most severe winter of the century. For a middle aged “penitential tour” one could not have invented something more severe. All in all it could not have been worse. Due to this my performance was even more admired. That I had achieved something very special I detected coming home and at my work. That day I will never forget. Afterwards it, nevertheless, has been a day with a golden shine. In the newspaper I was portrayed as a Saint, an “ice saint”. Two days later on Monday I could go to school again but I could not teach. I had to tell in detail about the “Elfstedentocht”.
Some months later I received the medal of the “Elfstedentocht” It is smaller than a small coin and weighs only 7 gram. Nevertheless it is for me the most precious award that I ever have received through my sport activities. Of all paticipants from the South of the Nederland I am the only participant in the tour who has finished this tour.
Nevertheless I was not interested in the “Elfstedentocht” for two years my enthusiasm for the “Elfstedentocht” had disappeared by all the bad experiences. But after that it came back again. I started to train again. Twenty years I was begging and praying for a new tour and when it came, in 1985, I was injured by a skating accident but in 1986 I participated again and finished the tour in 10 hours. In 1997 I have also finished the tour. After that, being 65, I have cancelled my membership of the association “De Friesche Elfsteden” in order to give younger people also a chance to participate."
By this kind of stories and the reporting on the TV of the race with all its heroism and accidents combined with the carnival like atmosphere along the route the “Ellfstedentocht” obtained the status of the ultimate challenge for people fond of skating. The worse the circumstances during the tour the more the admiration becomes for the participants, especially for the people who finish the tour in time. They have also the experience that they have done something special because there is, even now, only a limited number of people who have been able to finish the tour. This was, of course, even more so for the 69 participants out of the more than 10.000 who started the tour in 1963. Note that most of these 69 participants did not experience the severe problems of Kees Bovée. Most say that they had no physical problems during the tour except those who report frozen eyes. I suppose that there were many people who passed Franeker in time and ended in the “hell van het Norde” and suffered there a lot like Kees Bovée describes. For those people in 1963 and other people in other tours, like me in 1986, who were suffering a lot the compensation is the admiration you get for your achievement. It may take some time before these fanatic skaters may consider again to participate in such a tour of 200 km but in general it will happen after the bad experiences become less salient and the admiration for such an, in principle, dangerous endeavor continues to be demonstrated by the general public. This requires, however, a very strong enjoyment of skating itself. How much this can be I will demonstrate by the story of another famous skater Willem Augustin.
“Three weeks I had water in my knees and during a year I could not rest on my elbows. When I went to the church I could not kneel on my knees neither rest on my elbows. "Pain is nice" was not part of my vocabulary. It was the most terrible “Elfstedentocht in the history, just on the coldest day of the year, in the most severe winter of the century. For a middle aged “penitential tour” one could not have invented something more severe. All in all it could not have been worse. Due to this my performance was even more admired. That I had achieved something very special I detected coming home and at my work. That day I will never forget. Afterwards it, nevertheless, has been a day with a golden shine. In the newspaper I was portrayed as a Saint, an “ice saint”. Two days later on Monday I could go to school again but I could not teach. I had to tell in detail about the “Elfstedentocht”.
Some months later I received the medal of the “Elfstedentocht” It is smaller than a small coin and weighs only 7 gram. Nevertheless it is for me the most precious award that I ever have received through my sport activities. Of all paticipants from the South of the Nederland I am the only participant in the tour who has finished this tour.
Nevertheless I was not interested in the “Elfstedentocht” for two years my enthusiasm for the “Elfstedentocht” had disappeared by all the bad experiences. But after that it came back again. I started to train again. Twenty years I was begging and praying for a new tour and when it came, in 1985, I was injured by a skating accident but in 1986 I participated again and finished the tour in 10 hours. In 1997 I have also finished the tour. After that, being 65, I have cancelled my membership of the association “De Friesche Elfsteden” in order to give younger people also a chance to participate."
By this kind of stories and the reporting on the TV of the race with all its heroism and accidents combined with the carnival like atmosphere along the route the “Ellfstedentocht” obtained the status of the ultimate challenge for people fond of skating. The worse the circumstances during the tour the more the admiration becomes for the participants, especially for the people who finish the tour in time. They have also the experience that they have done something special because there is, even now, only a limited number of people who have been able to finish the tour. This was, of course, even more so for the 69 participants out of the more than 10.000 who started the tour in 1963. Note that most of these 69 participants did not experience the severe problems of Kees Bovée. Most say that they had no physical problems during the tour except those who report frozen eyes. I suppose that there were many people who passed Franeker in time and ended in the “hell van het Norde” and suffered there a lot like Kees Bovée describes. For those people in 1963 and other people in other tours, like me in 1986, who were suffering a lot the compensation is the admiration you get for your achievement. It may take some time before these fanatic skaters may consider again to participate in such a tour of 200 km but in general it will happen after the bad experiences become less salient and the admiration for such an, in principle, dangerous endeavor continues to be demonstrated by the general public. This requires, however, a very strong enjoyment of skating itself. How much this can be I will demonstrate by the story of another famous skater Willem Augustin.
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