And again, it won’t happen

Well, that was that then. There’s no hope anymore. And we were all so looking forward to it. It united the nation. Hundreds of people volunteered to try and make it possible, but since yesterday evening we all know better. It won’t happen. The Elfstedentocht won’t go on.

If it wasn’t so disappointing, it would be funny. Earlier this week I posted about people suffering from the Eleven Cities Tour Fever after only one night of frost. Television programs were dedicated to the 200 kilometres (124.2 miles) long ice skating tour on natural ice, past 11 cities in Friesland, the Netherlands. From Leeuwarden back to Leeuwarden again.
If you turned on the radio it was topic of conversation.
It was the first thing we, often jokingly, asked each other: “And, already in training?”, and instantly the other person would know what they were supposed to be in training for.

Even I had a mild case of the fever. A telephone conversation between me and a friend, earlier this week:

Me: “Already in training?”
He: “Hmm, not really. You know, I’m more of a long distance ice skater.”
Me: “You mean, the 200 kilometres isn’t long enough for you?”
He: “Not much of a challenge.”
Me: “And besides, it’s only one round.”
He: “Oh, but I usually do more rounds. One round isn’t really… just when you found your skating rhythm, you’re already at the finish line.”
Me: “Hmm, that’s true.”
He: “And I always ‘kluun’ from Groningen to Leeuwarden too, to warm up the muscles.”
Me: “Sure you do.”

Anyway, there were people more serious about the Elfstedentocht. Professional skaters, looking forward to this once in a lifetime skating event, were in tears last night when the news broke at a press conference.

The last Elfstedentocht was in 1997 and before that the ice only was safe enough in 1985 and 1986. This year it looked like the ice could be thick enough (minimum of 15 centimetres) to hold the expected 16,000 skaters, but unfortunately a large part of the ice was covered in snow. Snow works as an insulation and it prevents the ice from ‘growing’. So the snow had to be removed. The ice wasn’t thick enough yet to allow snow shovelling machines on the ice, so it had to be done by hand. Entire villages went on ‘their’ stretch of ice to shovel the snow to the sides. Schools volunteered their pupils for shovelling. And people from all over the country went to Friesland to do their part. The army sent 50 soldiers, who just had returned from polar training, to shovel snow. I’ve always wondered why soldiers need polar training, since most wars are fought in hotter (in more than one sense) parts of the world. But now it makes sense.

It really did unite the nation.

But the weather isn’t doing its part. It’s not freezing hard enough anymore. Temperatures are still below zero, but it isn’t cold enough to make the ice ‘grow’. So… yesterday evening the news came that it couldn’t go through. Not that a date was set yet. But we all lived in hope that it could perhaps take place this Saturday or perhaps Sunday.

If you watch the video (follow this link) you will understand the atmosphere of the whole event. It truly is magnificent. After about a minute, you’ll see the competition skaters start. All skaters have to run to the Bonkevaart (the canal where the starting point is), put on their skates and then skate the entire route, collecting a stamp in every city they skate through. Because of the amount of people who skate the Elfstedentocht, they start very early in the morning, when it is still dark (so the first hour or so they can’t even see where they are skating). First the competitive skaters start and after that the tour skaters start in groups. The later they start, the later they will arrive back in Leeuwarden, so many of them will arrive in the dark. They are only allowed to pass the finish line until precisely 12 o’clock at night. When you’re late, you won’t get a medal to prove that you’ve done the tour. Life is hard. Now I know that lots of tour skaters take breaks in bars along the route, so it’s a wonder they do even finish at all, but still it is incredibly sad when you’ve braved the cold, skated 200 kilometres, avoided freezing to death or breaking limbs, and then you arrive at the finish at 10 seconds past 12. Bad luck! Better luck next time. If there is a next time that is.

The video also shows what ‘klunen’ is. It’s rather funny to watch.

And you’ll see our Queen at the finish line of the competition to greet the winner. Even our crown prince skated the tour once. I believe it was in 1997. Brave boy.

Ah well, who knows, maybe next year we’ll have another Elfstedentocht. Or perhaps even this year. If temperatures get as low as –15 Celsius again. Don’t burn your skates yet! There’s always hope.

Klunen: in places where the ice is too unsafe to skate on, skaters have to get off the ice and stagger on their skates to a place where they can get on the ice again and continue the tour.