"first time in 12 years" Dutch canals freeze

[rustyphillips]

Sorry if a repost - I searched & couldn't find it

Jan 15th 2009

www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/world/europe/16skaters.html



NIEUWERKERK AAN DEN IJSSEL, the Netherlands — For the first time in 12 years, the Netherlands’ canals froze this month, bringing the Dutch, who like their tulips in neat rows, a heady mix of pandemonium and euphoria.

Hundreds of thousands of skaters, their cheeks as red as apples in the subzero temperatures, took to the ice, and hospital wards were filled with dozens of people with fractured arms, sprained ankles and broken legs.

[rustyphillips]

Notice the dates of the Elfstedentocht - "11 city race"


from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht

The Elfstedentocht (English translation: "Journey of Eleven Cities") is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.
The tour, almost 200 km in length, is conducted on frozen canals, rivers and lakes between the eleven Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum and finally again Leeuwarden. The tour is not held every year, mostly because not every Dutch winter permits skating on natural ice. Adding to that, the tour currently features about 15,000 amateur skaters taking part, putting high requirements on the quality of the ice. There is a stated regulatory requirement for the race to take place that the ice must be (and remain at) a minimum thickness of 15 centimetres along the entirety of the course.
There are likely to be points along the route where the ice is too thin to allow mass skating, or where there is some other problem (e.g., there is actually an organisation "Committee Elfsteden Nee" that is opposed to the race and sabotaged the route in 1997 by laying salt on the ice at one place). These are called "kluning points" (from West Frisian klúnje) and the skaters walk on their skates to the next stretch of good ice. In 1997 ice-transplantation was introduced to strengthen weak places in the ice, for instance under bridges.
Since the Elfstedentocht is such a rare occurrence, its declaration creates excitement all over the country. The day before the race many Dutch flock to Leeuwarden to enjoy the party atmosphere that surrounds the event. The evening before the race called the "Nacht van Leeuwarden" (Night of Leeuwarden) becomes a giant city-wide street party (Frisians, who have a reputation of surliness, are said to thaw when it freezes). At the day of the race most Frisians and Dutchmen stay home to watch the race on television.

Year Winner Time Distance Average speed
1909 Minne Hoekstra 13:50 189 km 13.7 km/h
1912 Coen de Koning 11:40 189 km 16.2 km/h
1917 Coen de Koning 9:53 189 km 19.1 km/h
1929 Karst Leemburg 11:09 191 km 17.1 km/h
1933 Abe de Vries and Sipke Castelein 9:53 195 km 19.7 km/h
1940 Piet Keizer, Auke Adema, Cor Jongert, Dirk van Duim and Sjouke Westra 11:30 198.5 km 17.3 km/h
1941 Auke Adema 9:19 198.5 km 21.3 km/h
1942 Sietze de Groot 8:44 198 km 22.7 km/h
1947 Jan van der Hoorn 10:51 191 km 17.6 km/h
1954 Jeen van den Berg 7:35 198.5 km 26.2 km/h
1956 no winner declared (*) — 190.5 km —
1963 Reinier Paping 10:59 196.5 km 17.9 km/h
1985 Evert van Benthem 6:47 196.8 km 29.0 km/h
1986 Evert van Benthem 6:55 199.3 km 28.8 km/h
1997 Henk Angenent 6:49 199.6 km 29.3 km/h

[aj1983]

Skating has been nice this winter, it has been a long time since I've been able to do that. We're still waiting for the next Elfstedentocht. Temperatures have been cool this winter, but have been normal in February, above normal in March, and way above normal in April until now. It almost seems like we're back to the usual "above normal" stuff. Here in Oklahoma (I'm in OK now for a few months) winter has been exceptionally warm, but we've had some cold spells recently, and even a blizzard in the end of March (note: most blizzards in OK happen in March).

Now I'm waiting for the tornadoes to appear so that I can go stormchasing again.

We'll see what next year will bring.

[ronaldhelder]

Hey,

this is my first post here, after some months of reading. I couldn't let this one pass.
I know about the skating this winter, the picture above was taken 10 km from my home (maybe I'm even on it ), at the famous Windmills of Kinderdijk.
The story however is not entirely true. Yes, it has been a cold winter, with a long freezing period. We were able to skate for 2 weeks in januari. But it is not true that this was the first time in 12 years. I have been skating (on this paticular canal) almost every year, except for the winters 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. 2006/2007 was the first (and hopefully only) winter that the ice was not thick enough to skate on natural ice in my region. But yes, in 2008/2009 the ice was thick enough to organise the roundtrip 'Molentocht' (Windmilltour) of 75 km officially after 12 years. I hope (and believe) there are more to come ;D

Ronald