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Sporting Witness: The Elfstedentocht

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The Elfstdentocht

20/01/2024 GMT

The Elfstedentocht

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, The Elfstedentocht

How only 69 of the 10,000 skaters finished in one of the world's toughest ice races

In 1963, only 69 of the 10,000 ice skaters in the Elfstedentocht finished. The Dutch 200 km race around the lakes and canals in Friesland only happens when it's especially cold.

The Elfstedentocht is one of the toughest sporting events there is. It’s an ice skating race around the lakes and canals of the northern Dutch province of Friesland – and it can only take place when it is particularly cold. 

The last one was in 1997, but the most notorious happened back in January 1963, when only 69 of the 10,000 skaters made it to the end of the 200 km course. The rest were stopped by the appalling weather conditions. 

One of the few to complete the race was the then 24-year-old skater Leffert Oldenkamp. He tells Matthew Kenyon about the extreme race.

(Photo: Competitors in the 1963 Elfstedentocht. Credit: Eric Koch/Dutch National Archive)

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