Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry Churcher
Hanno, where are the hockey sticks?  |
Barry, no we don't use hockey sticks. Skating in Holland is all about long distances. As you know we have a lot of waterways. When they freeze over, many tours are organised where you skate anywhere from a few km's to a few hundred km.
When it has been really cold for a while and the ice is at least 15 centimetres thick, the Elfstedentocht (which means ‘eleven towns skating tour’) is held in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. The Elfstedentocht is a very hard 200-kilometre skating marathon that passes through eleven Frisian towns. Because it isn’t often cold enough for the marathon, it is a very special event, almost like a national holiday. People come to Friesland from all over the Netherlands and beyond to cheer on the 2,000 skaters who take part. Every person who reaches the finishing line receives a hero’s welcome.
The last Elfstedentocht was in 1997, this year many people are hoping it will happen again this year!
H