Comments by "Lynott Parris" (@DenUitvreter) on "American Reacts to Strangest Race on Ice - finish elfstedentocht" video.

  1. The Netherlands is very wet, full of canals and rivers and lakes. So we can skate everywhere, from everywhere to everywhere, but certainly not every winter. The country gets skating mad when it's freezing for over a week, it's a chance you have to grab. In very cold winters there's an extra treat, the Elfstedentocht, but most cold winters are not cold enough and there is just the weeks of speculation whether it will happen again. There have only been 15 official events, but the first time the route along the eleven cities was skated was in 1763 or even earlier. A private association of volunteers organizes the event when it establishes there's enough ice. The 12.000 (?) members of the association, who have paid 5 euro contribution per year for their membership, can partake, just finishing it is the goal and they have to be in before midnight, after having started in the morning. It's a challenge for everybody and you really have to be a good skater in a good shape. The race is done by competitors in the (indoor) marathon skating circuit, which were semi pro's back then, the last three were farmers in their other job. It's a huge event, with about 2 million people cheering them on along the route, with a party atmosphere and music bands etc, and it's live on national TV for the cold avoiding, also about 10 million, more than half of the entire population watched at least a part. I was in the crowd in 1997, it was so cold I downed half a bottle of the local herb liquor, 43% Weduwe Joustra, but/and it was fun. Great atmosphere. Allthoug a huge national event, it's also very Frysian, Frysland is the most different province of the Netherlands, they speak a very old language instead of a dialect for example, Dutch is the second language for many, very stubborn people and even more skating mad than the rest. I know two people who have 'the cross', who finished the tour. They'll let you know if they did, they are really proud. The funny thing is the winner of 85 and 86, Evert van Benthem, moved to Canada to become a farmer there. Only his neighbours know him there, while at the other side of the Atlantic, there are at least 15 million people who still know his name.
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  2. There's actually a great film on the Dutch skating fever on YT called "Als het kan, dan moet het". Unfortunately it's not subtitled in English but the title says it all: "If we can, we must".
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  3. Indeed. He's probably interested in 'Fierljeppen' video's too.
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