page_title: Elfstedentocht
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Elfstedentocht / History
caption_attribution_description: Groep deelnemers aan de Elfstedentocht, die zaterdagochtend om 5 uur afreden. De tocht werd uitgeschreven door de Nederlandse Bond voor Lichamelijke Opvoeding, onder leidng van de Friese IJsbond. Deze elf steden zijn: Leeuwarden, Franeker, Harlingen, Bolsward, Workum, Stavoren, Sloten, Hindeloopen, IJlst, Sneek, Dokkum. - Winnaar van de grote verguld zilveren medaille was M. Hoekstra (5) uit Warga, die 19:10 's avonds te Leeuwarden aankwam. G.D. v.d. Ley (6) uit Marrum won een zilveren medaille als tweede aankomende op 19:13; luitenant Roozeboom (7), die 19:16 arriveerde, behaalde de grote bronzen medaille. - Op de voorgrond de bestuurders van de IJsbond: 1. de heer S.H. Hielkema, voorzitter; 2. mr. J.D. v.d. Plaats, penningmeester; 3. mr J. Lucardi, secretaris; 4. G.W. Koopmans.
context_page_description: The Elfstedentocht is a long-distance tour skating event, almost 200 kilometres long, which is held both as a speed skating competition and a leisure tour. It 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 thick; 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.
context_section_description: There has been mention of skaters visiting all eleven cities of Friesland on one day since 1760. The Elfstedentocht was already part of Frisian tradition when, in 1890, Pim Mulier conceived the idea of an organised tour, which was first held in 1909 when 22 men competed. After this race, the Vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden  (Association of the Eleven Frisian Towns)  was established to organise the tours.
  In the 1912 edition Jikke Gaastra was the first women ever who finished the Elfstedentocht, but couldn't complete the full tour because the ice wasn't good enough after Sneek. In the 1917 edition Janna van der Weg was the first women who finished the tour.
  The winters of 1939/40, 1940/41 and 1941/42 were particularly severe, with the race being run in each of them. The 1940 race, run three months prior to the German invasion of the Netherlands,  saw over 3,000 competitors start at 05:00 on 30 January, with the first five finishing at 16:34. The event dominated the front pages of Dutch newspapers.
  The Elfstedentocht of 1963 became known as "The hell of '63" when only 69 of the 10,000 participants were able to finish the race, due to the extremely low temperatures of -18 °C, powder snow and a harsh eastern wind. Conditions were so horrendous that the 1963 winner, Reinier Paping, became a national hero, and the tour itself legendary. Paping could not make out the finishing line as he was snow blind by the end of the race, and many of the contestants had frostbite, broken limbs, and damaged eyes.
  The next Elfstedentocht after 1963 was held in 1985; times had changed. Before, one of the best methods to stay warm during the tour was to wear newspapers underneath the clothes. In the 20 years between the tours of 1963 and 1985, clothing, training methods and skates became much more advanced, changing the nature of skating.
  The tour of 1985 was terminated prematurely because of thawing; as early as 22:00 in the evening skaters were taken off the ice. In 1986 the current Dutch King (at the time still Crown Prince) Willem-Alexander completed the Elfstedentocht under the name W.A. van Buren, Van Buren being a traditional pseudonym of the Royal House. In 1997 Piet Kleine, who had previously won a gold medal at the Olympics for speed skating was disqualified because he missed getting a stamp at Hindeloopen despite video evidence that he had been there.
caption: Competitors of the first (1909) Elfstedentocht
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