Ice skating is a very popular sport in the Netherlands.
Beside speedskating there is a big marathonskating event that is held in the province: Friesland.
It is called "Elsfstedentocht" translated that is: eleven towns journey. It is a skating journey of almost 200 kilometres between 11 "Friese" towns.
Off course this event can only be held when the ice is strong enough, and that doesn't happen very often. The last journey was in 1997. It was won by Henk Angenent that year. The last time before that it was skated 2 years in a row, 1985 and 1986 and both years it was won by Evert van Benthem.
A number of skaters make this journey to be the fastest, others make it just for the experience. When you have succeeded to skate the whole 200 kilometres you get the "elfsteden" cross.

Click here to see a map of the route

If you want to see some pictures of the "elfstedentocht" of 1997, you can click here.

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