Eleven cities

When winter finally reach the freezing point again
And lakes and canals of Friesland are slowly frozen
Epic skating tales are told about heroes and of men
For the Winners of this Race are truly our chosen

Their names deeply etched into the nations brain
Names like 'Jeen van den Berg' and 'Reinier Paping'
In woolen sweaters they braved the cold and pain
Because here skating half a day can make you king

But this race of races is surely not a common affair
Only made possible by a visit of the great Russian chill
With open arms we always welcome this 'Russian Bear'
Our hearts thaw and a craziness makes the country thrill

It is "eleven city fever", which is to us so pleasing
And come race day this country comes grinding to a halt
'Cos Dutch hearts melt when drunk or when it's freezing
And the hero of this race is worth his weight in salt

This inhuman race, two hundred kilometers at minus eighteen
One edition named "the hell of sixty three", when Paping won
When he skated for ten hours and fifty nine minutes clean
Ten thousand starting but not even a hundred forty get it done

That's why indoor skating to the dutch is just teasing
Skaters given a choice: Olympic gold or the "elfsteden" cross
Will answer that the "Alvestêde kruis" is more pleasing
Crackling of the black ice, the wind in their face always boss

@madevi

Image Credits: 1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5 --- 6

The Netherlands are a strange little country and when mentioned outside of it most people usually think of Tulips, Windmills and Weed. And sure they are etched into the culture of this nation too, but something that is really Dutch, even more than the imported Windmills (Iran), Tulips (Turkey) and Weed (Africa) is: Ice skating. It is true that our hearts (and minds at some point) melt when it goes freezing for longer than a week. The hum of the "Elfstedentocht" starts going crescendo until it reaches fever pitch. Officially organized since 1909, with references go back to 1749, this internal competition is worth more than even the Soccer World Cup or any Olympic medal. And I kid you not but Sven Kramer, Irene Wust and every other professional ice skater here would not hesitate a single second if the tour is announced to get on a plane home, even during the winter Olympics. Even if they were sure to pick up the gold medal, as you know we often do.

Now who is the one to decide if this race goes on? The Dutch government surely as the whole country is brought to a halt? Nope... It's the "Elfsteden commissie" that makes that decision, this commission is made up of all the "District heads" along the route of the tour. The district heads monitor the thickness of the ice for safety reasons. Because on race day the population of Friesland grows from 645.000 to 2,5 million, and most of them will be on the ice. So, when they decide it's all safe, and ONLY when they decide unanimously, the head of the committee will utter the words "It giet oan!" ('It will happen!' in Frysian) The whole country is watching this press conference live and I bet the resulting roars, screams of joy and hurrays can be heard from space.

From that moment on everyone that is a member of the "Elfsteden vereniging" (club) has 48 hours to prepare for this monster of a race. At five thirty in the morning the race starts, and usually about 300 professional racers and 16.000 leisure riders (yes! LEISURE) set off and hope to finish before midnight when the race ends. There is just a limited number of members of the club that are allowed to start, so you can be "drawn out" of the race by the draw. Many long time members have never even had the chance to start because of this, to their great chagrin.

The last time the tour was held is already 21 years ago and before that the race was held in 1986, 1985, 1963 and 1956, etc etc. So you can see why this is such a big deal over here, a whole generation has grown up without a race. When the race is held an unusual number of people suddenly get sick, and employers usually fail to notice this because they themselves are also a bit preoccupied. Children get the day off from school as well.

With this Ode written to the "Elfstedentocht" by Arno van der Zwet, i will finish off this post:

Ode

Think, endless stretches of ice in a barren landscape/ Think, the wind cutting on your face and sweeping snow in your > eyes/Think, frozen toes, fingers, noses and ears/Think, the hardest race in world

I hope that i have given you some small insight into the soul of my country and the craziness that comes over us when it's about ice skating. This year it's, again, not going to happen, maybe next year...

@madevi

If you want to read more, check out some more stuff I wrote:

consumed by consumption
return to innocence
she burns bright
chaos and order
my valentine
a limerick about my birthday
a circle shaped short story (J.A.S.E.)
luctor et emergo
a poetic poetry review - daily dose 24
an experiment with word shape and meaning
excercise with shape and words
coincidence?
fifty - fifty
feelings in motion
my drowning land
nothing from nothing
infinite bandwidth
just a limerick
i've always been me
life is suffering
An anecdotal poetry experiment
When it rains it pours
Dreaming about Steeming
For the love of stones
Mind, body and soul
United dreams
Talk about addiction





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Madevi.

umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu!