Speedskating Trip To The Netherlands

Yesterday,  I skated about 80 km of canal ice in Friesland,  in the north-eastern part The Netherlands.   My plan was to skate the entire 200 km Elfstedentocht route.   However, I was waylaid by several Frisian pirates on the icy canals and forced to drink Beerenburg.  The sun was going down and I was advised that  canal skating tipsy and in the dark was not a good idea.  So we skated tipsy until sunset.  I started at Leeuwarden, skated to Sneek, then IJlst, Workum, Bolsward, Witmarsum and Harlingen.


View Larger Map
 It was great fun.  It's been 15 years since the last really deep freeze in Friesland when an official Elfstedentocht was held.

Here is a photo link to my trip album (click to enlarge).


And also a video link.

Enjoy.

Boston Marathon Number 115

Grete Waitz by Leo Kulinski, Jr.
 http://www.whalesandwolves.com/buyprints.html

Very sadly,  I just read that Grete Waitz succumbed to cancer today.    She won the NYC marathon nine times in a span of eleven marathons (1978 through 1988).   She set three course records and won it five times in a row (1982 - 1986).   Her personal best in the marathon was  2:24:54  (London - April 20,  1986,  tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of that achievement).

(Post race note:  Fellow Norwegian, and marathon great  Ingrid Kristiansen won Boston twice, NY, London 4x, Stockholm. She held the marathon world record  for 13 years. (London 1985, 2:21:06).  )

In 1897, John  "JJ" McDermott won the  first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10 !!   It was a small field,  15 runners.  What a difference a century makes!   This year we hosted about 27,000 runners from all over the world.  As you might expect, the BAA  website has improved markedly over the past decade.  Today I'm digging into the results database, it's impressive.  For example,  I searched on runners with Kenyan citizenship (including those not living in Kenya), elite and otherwise,  and found 20 runners.   There were 33 runners from the Netherlands (including two who identified themselves as MDs - showoffs). 

Yesterday's race was really fast (at least for the elite runners).  Clear and dry,  a brisk tailwind (from the West at 20 mph), temperatures in the 50s, and dewpoints of 25 F (that's an RH of 33%), the conditions were about as good as they get - at least based on the results.  In the mens race, Geoffrey Muttai of Kenya ran a 2:03:02 which is the fastest recorded marathon time so far.   However, there are criteria for race eligibility  for an official world record.  A century ago,  the men's world record was around 2:40 - and today the record is 2:03:59  (Berlin 2008) - held by Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia.

In the women's race,  Caroline Kilel (Kenya) edged out Desiree Davila (USA) by two seconds with a time of 2:22:36.   Clearly the women were having a harder time this year with these "ideal" conditions - the women's world record is just over ten years old  (Paula Radcliff,  MBE - 2:15:25,  London, April 13, 2001).    In 1983,  Joanie Benoit ran a 2:22:43 and set a course record.  In 2002, Margaret Okayo (Kenya) set the women's course record with a 2:20:43.   The first sub-3 hour women's world record occurred in 1971 (Elizabeth Bonner,  2:55:22,  NY Marathon).  Since 1971, the women have shaved almost 40 minutes of the record.  The men have only gained 5 minutes. -  wimps :) 

Joanie Benoit Samuelson (50- 54) ran a 2:51:29.   Christine B. Kennedy (55-59) ran a 2:56:17.  Come on guys! -  get a move on,  you know who you are.  :) 

How "ideal" were the conditions yesterday?  The Boston Marathon is a tricky race.  Disaster lurks for the unwary.   Boston is a windy city. In April,  the sea wind is freezing - the land wind can be anything from Arctic to Tropical - unlike the autumn marathons, with their somewhat more predictable weather,  coastal New England spring weather is highly variable due to cold ocean temperatures and dips in the jet stream.   Some of our biggest snow storms have happened in early April.   Here's a little snapshot of today's date from the NWS  -  TODAY MAXIMUM 48,   Record: 95 F 1976 ;  MINIMUM 41 , Record: 16 F 1875;   AVERAGE 45 .   Yuk!!   So much for averages!

So, how did the top racers do it yesterday?  Well, in short, they flew.  Detailed video analysis shows that the men's winner took a single bound in Hopkinton and his took his first footfall at the finish line.  The Kenyans, in case you don't know,  train for Boston in a zero gravity chamber, or run down Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Cold Weather In Europe

There has been a lot of snow and cold weather in England,  northern France and Eastern Germany.  The Netherlands has had enough cold weather to build some ice.  Here is a recent story.

Woensdag mogelijk NK op natuurijs
Toegevoegd: zondag 19 dec 2010, 16:52
Update: zondag 19 dec 2010, 20:07

Schaatsen op natuurijs
ProShots

Het Nederlands kampioenschap marathon op natuurijs kan woensdag, als het aan de IJsclub Belterwiede ligt, gehouden worden in Wanneperveen.

"De schaatsbond KNSB heeft het parcours van zes kilometer vandaag geïnspecteerd", aldus voorzitter Jans Bijker.

Op het Overijsselse meer de Belterwiede ligt nog niet overal de vereiste vijftien centimer ijs. "Maar dat komt de komende dagen heus wel goed", stelt Bijker. "Wij hebben bijna geen sneeuw op het ijs liggen. Met een beetje vorst hebben we maandag op het hele traject vijftien centimeter. "

Volgens KNSB-coördinator Teun Breedijk beslist de schaatsbond maandag over de definitieve datum.

Marathon natuurijs in Gramsbergen
Dinsdag wordt in Gramsbergen al wel een marathon op natuurijs verreden.

 Het evenement in Overijssel (honderd ronden bij de mannen en zestig bij de vrouwen) is de vierde van dit seizoen op natuurijs en vormt de finale van de zogenoemde marathonvierdaagse. Eerder kon er al worden geschaatst in Noordlaren, Veenoord en Haaksbergen.

Bij de mannen hebben Karlo Timmerman en Christijn Groeneveld beiden 65 punten. Timmerman is koploper omdat hij al twee marathons won. Martijn van Es staat derde.

Bij de vrouwen leidt Maria Sterk met 69 punten, op slechts één punt gevolgd door Carla Zielman. Derde is Foske-Tamar van der Wal.


Springtime Without Chemo

Ice skating season is over in practice - my local ice rink is closed until late fall. This saves a bunch on electricity and also forces me to find alternatives. Since I love in-line skating on five-wheeler speedskates, it's not a big problem. I also like cycling. It's a lot easier on the body than in-lining on a bad surface (and most are). In-line wheels are made of solid polyurethane rubber and they transmit all the tiny bumps right up your legs. Pneumatic bicycle tires are a great invention - they absorb those high-frequency vibrations very well. I'm sure you've noticed how solid rubber tires are no longer in vogue. :)


Spring cleaning of in-line skates is a time to relax and bond with ones equipment. Bearings and wheels must be disassembled and evaluated.





Skating along the Charles River is quite convenient and the path on the Boston side, near BU has been recently redone. It is quite smooth and flat. The Charles river bike path is named after Dr. Paul Dudley White, a prominent Boston physician and cardiologist.

Back From Netherlands

Back from the Netherlands



I just got back from a one week skating holiday in the Netherlands. The main reason for my visit was to catch up with the Ying/Daavis family in Utrecht. I had not seen them for quite a while.



Speedskating - or simply skating as the Dutch call it - is the national winter sport so there are a lot of 400m ice tracks is such a small country - 23 main ones at least. http://www.kunstijsbanen.nl/
You can practice your dutch on this site. Check out the different kinds of skates on the "schaatssoorten" link.


Utrecht

Utrecht

Netherlands Natural Ice 2009

Large areas of the Dutch-land are frozen. But the northern area of Friesland - the traditional 11 cities area - has not experienced conditions as cold as the south of the country - Eindhoven and Rotterdam area. Dutch news story



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