Elfstedentocht
The Elfstedentocht, or Eleven-cities Tour is a speed skating competition held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.
The tour, 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between eleven Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, Drachten, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum and finally again Leeuwarden. The tour is not held each year, mostly due to the fact that the Dutch winters do not permit skating on natural ice each year. Adding to that, the tour currently features about 15,000 amateur skaters taking part, putting high requirements on the quality of the ice.
History
The Elfstedentocht was already part of Frisian tradition, when in 1890, Pim Mulier conceived the idea of an organised tour, which was first held in 1909. After this race, the Stichting Friese Elf Steden was established to take care of the organisation.
Since 1909, the tour has been held 15 times. The often cold weather and harsh conditions have helped to make the race a major event in the Netherlands, where many will travel to Friesland to see the tour or watch the competition skaters on television. After the competition skaters have finished, some 15,000 amateur skaters will also attempt to complete the race.
Winners
- 1909 - Minne Hoekstra
- 1912 - Coen de Koning
- 1917 - Coen de Koning
- 1929 - Karst Leemburg
- 1933 - Abe de Vries and Sipke Castelein
- 1940 - Piet Keizer, Auke Adema, Cor Jongert, Dirk van Duim and Sjouke Westra
- 1941 - Auke Adema
- 1942 - Sietze de Groot
- 1947 - Jan van der Hoorn
- 1954 - Jeen van den Berg
- 1956 - no winner declared (*)
- 1963 - Reinier Paping
- 1985 - Evert van Benthem
- 1986 - Evert van Benthem
- 1997 - Henk Angenent
(*) After shared wins in 1933 and 1940, this had been forbidden by the organisation. Jan van der Hoorn, Aad de Koning, Jeen Nauta, Maus Wijnhout and Anton Verhoeven did however ignore this rule when they were the first to cross the finish line. They were disqualified, and no winner was declared.
Women were allowed to take part in the race from 1985, but no award has been given; that will be the case at the next edition. The women to cross the finish line first were: