1/5/2007 - Elfstedentocht Museum opened!

Now that climatologists are beginning to prophesie doom and gloom for our climate, one of the most important winter traditions in this country has been given its own museum. And it's just about time too. If we are to believe these climatologists, there will be no more that four more Eleven City skating races (Elfstedentocht) throughout the 21st century, if at all. Even that is uncertain. Now that the Elfstedentocht is almost certainly a thing of the past, it's about time that we should commemorate it with its own museum.

So what is this Elfstedentocht? It's a 130 mile skating race on natural ice along eleven cities in the Dutch province of Fryslân. The eleven cities are: Ljouert, Snits, Drylts, Sleat, Starum, Hylpen, Warkum, Boalsert, Harns, Frjentsjer, and Dokkum. This is official order of the trajectory of the race. The finish also takes place in Ljouert. These are the Frisian names of the cities, so you might not find them in your atlas. This race can only take place if we have a very cold winter, and it'll take three weeks at least before the ice gets to the right thickness. A big sprinting champion from Japan once asked how many days the race takes, well, last time around, in 1997, it took the winner, Henk Angenent, just over six and a half hours. The 200+ participants in the race start at six in the morning by the way, and about two hours later 10,000 recreational skaters (the waiting list is horrifyingly long, and there isn't even a promise that it'll happen again anytime soon) get started. Every participant gets a medal, under two conditions: they must collect a stamp at all of the eleven checkpoints, and they must finish by midnight. Everybody still out after midnight will be taken off the ice by the police.

The race is very popular, as fans from all over the country flock together along the bank of the rivers and canals used, all clad either in orange or in the white and blue colors of the province of Friesland. One small village, Bartlehiem, is particularly popular, as skaters must skate through it both skating into and out of the city of Dokkum.

Even with the so-called 'climate change' ('greenhouse effect' has become politically incorrect) the race was a rarity to begin with. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think the last five editions were the ones of 1997, 1986, 1985, 1963, and 1929. There was one winter during the German occupation in WWII that had the right conditions, but the Nazis didn't allow such events to take place. I myself have only seen the race of '97, and I wonder if I'll ever see one again.