Will it ever be cold enough for the Elfstedentocht folk festival?

Holland, the flat country without mountains, is not considered a stronghold of winter sports. But there is one exception: skating. Thanks to him, the Netherlands occupies a remarkable 9th place on the all-time medal tally at the Winter Olympics. Of the 130 medals won, only nine did not go to skaters: five in short track, three in figure skating and one in snowboarding.

The Dutch call skating skating and that this is not only a top sport but a popular sport, is impressively proven by the Elfstedentocht. Some 17,000 athletes have already taken part in the long-distance race, which runs almost 200 kilometers through the province of Friesland in the north of the country. On canals, rivers and lakes. That makes it clear why the Elfstedentocht was last held on January 4, 1997: it has never been cold enough since then.

1909 was a bitterly cold winter which made it possible to hold this race for the first time. 23 daredevils skated the course, only seven made it to the finish. In over a hundred years there have been only fifteen events.

Will it ever be possible to walk again? The subject is of course one for Dutch researchers who say that hope should not be given up. After all, the chance that there is enough ice to hold an Elfstedentocht today is estimated at 5.5 percent.

In fact, the weather would have made it possible in early 2021. Instead, the goddamn corona pandemic made it impossible to keep it up.

Who certainly does not give up, is the creator of the specially set up Twitter account @gietitaloan (“Are we going to start?”): Every day since early 2013, he’s been wondering if it’s cold enough to hold the event.

Daily Response: No.

To take climate change into account, an alternative Elfstedentocht has been taking place since 1989 – far from home. An annual race is held on Lake Weissensee in the Austrian state of Carinthia. The event always attracts several thousand skaters from the Netherlands, who circle on the frozen lake.

The Weissensee is located at an altitude of 930 meters above sea level. For two weeks a year, the water in Carinthia is the highest point in the Netherlands.