Statue in Leeuwarden of an Elfstedentocht competitor. The eleven cities and all the winners are listed on the plinth
Sport
Tour skating and speed skating
Founded
1909; 115 years ago (1909)
Countries
World
The Elfstedentocht (Dutch pronunciation:[ɛl(ə)fˈsteːdə(n)tɔxt]; West Frisian: Alvestêdetocht[ɔlvəˈstɛːdətɔχt], English: Eleven cities tour) is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long, which is held both as a speed skating competition (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (with 16,000 skaters). The Elfstedentocht is the biggest ice-skating tour in the world.[1]
The tour is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province. The tour is held at most once a year, only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimetres (6 in) thick;[2] sometimes on consecutive years, other times with gaps that may exceed 20 years. When the ice is suitable, the tour is announced and starts within 48 hours.
The Elfstedentocht has been declared to be in danger of "extinction" due to climate change.[3][4][5] In the past 50 years, the Elfstedentocht has taken place only three times, most recently in 1997.[6]
^"Elfstedentocht - a 200 kilometre ice skating tour". holland.com. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^"Geschiedenis Schrijft elfstedengeschiedenis. Schrijf mee! ["Geschiedenis" writes the Eleven Cities History. Please contribute]". VPRO [Dutch Television Station]. Archived from the original on 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
^"Elfstedentocht: The outdoor skating race that brings the Netherlands to a standstill". CBSNews.com. CBC News. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^Abuzer van Leeuwen (10 February 2021). "Why the Netherlands will never have an 'Elfstedentocht' (Eleven Cities Tour) again". dutchreview.com. Dutch Review. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^Rick Maese (7 March 2019). "GAME CHANGER: Waning winters". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
^"Historie" (in Dutch). “Koninklijke Vereniging De Friese Elf Steden”. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
The Elfstedentocht (Dutch pronunciation: [ɛl(ə)fˈsteːdə(n)tɔxt]; West Frisian: Alvestêdetocht [ɔlvəˈstɛːdətɔχt], English: Eleven cities tour) is a long-distance...
the 11 cities of Friesland, a challenge which eventually led to the Elfstedentocht. The first known speed skating competition for women was in Heerenveen...
before July 1 preceding the skating season. The Netherlands is home of Elfstedentocht, a 200 km distance skating race of which the tracks leads through the...
marathon swimmer born in Alkmaar. In 2019 Van der Weijden swam the Elfstedentocht for charity. He raised more than €6.1 million. Van der Weijden was known...
Also, Leeuwarden has been a UNESCO City of Literature since 2019. The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour), an ice skating tour passing the eleven cities...
of the 1956 Elfstedentocht. He started a skating shop in Ter Aar. Lenie van der Hoorn-Langelaan (1948), winner of the 1985 Elfstedentocht, the first women's...
freshwater canals to freeze hard, the province holds its traditional Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 200-kilometre (120 mi) ice skating tour. A traditional...
Bolsward is one of the eleven Frisian cities in which the ice skating Elfstedentocht, an ice skating marathon, is held. Because the marathon depends on the...
and 2001. During the last held Elfstedentocht in 1997 she finished second. She also won the alternative Elfstedentocht - skated in Finland - in 1998,...
Dutch speedskater primarily known as the winner of the Elfstedentocht of 1963. This Elfstedentocht became known as "The hell of '63" when only 69 of the...
November 1958) is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986. Van Benthem, a farmer from Leeuwte...
world record in one-hour skating, at 32,370 m in 1906, and won the Elfstedentocht in 1912 and 1917. De Koning came from a speed skating family. His brother...
Bethlehem, Palestina. Bartlehiem is especially well-known due to the Elfstedentocht for ice skaters, who have to pass through the hamlet twice. Coming from...
speed skating marathon organisation and founder of the Alternative Elfstedentocht. His father, Bram Koopmans was the organiser for the Amstel Gold Race...
a population of 950 in January 2017. It is one of the stops on the Elfstedentocht (English: "eleven cities tour"), an ice skating contest that occurs...
marathon speed skating champion three times and won the Alternative Elfstedentocht in Finland twice. In 2006 he won the Open Dutch nature track marathon...
January 2022. (in Dutch) Gonnie Spijkstra, ""De Unox-associatie bij de Elfstedentocht is invented tradition"", Verse Reclame, 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2015...
January 2017. De Bullemolen in Lekkum marks the finishing point of the Elfstedentocht. The village was first mentioned in the 13th century as Lackum. The...
was postponed: the Minister was ice-skating the 200 kilometer long Elfstedentocht in the Dutch province of Friesland, which he skated twice in his life...
NHL for the Florida Panthers Evert van Benthem, speed skater, won the Elfstedentocht in 1985 and 1986 Wayne Van Dorp, former ice hockey player in the NHL...
author Reinier Paping (1931–2021), speedskater, the winner of the 1963 Elfstedentocht better known as "the hell of '63" Anna Charlotte Ruys (1898–1977), professor...
skaters, and was worn by several winners of the unpredictably-held Elfstedentocht (the frost has to be hard enough for the whole of the roughly 200 km...
Sneek, baseball and softball club FC Gescheurde Knieband, football club Elfstedentocht Eleven city ice skating race and tour Fietselfstedentocht Eleven city...
Evert van Benthem (b. 1958), Dutch speedskater, twice winner of the Elfstedentocht Jean Van Benthem (fl. 1908), Belgian cyclist Johan van Benthem (b. 1949)...
Aldtsjerkster mar, a small lake which is an important point on the Elfstedentocht. In Dutch, the village is called Oudkerk ("Old Church"); Aldtsjerk is...
before July 1 preceding the skating season. Most famous race is the Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities) ice skating marathon (200 kilometers) on frozen canals...
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