In the Netherlands, an iconic skating race — and a way of life — faces extinction from climate change
On a balmy winter day, Klaas Einte Adema lugged his ice skates from car to rink to continue his training for a race that might never come. The 36-year-old has spent the better part of his adult life doing this — showing up at the rink six days a week, skating laps, honing technique and waiting for the weather to someday cooperate.
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Warmer temperatures have caused race organizers in Alaska to alter the Iditarod’s route in recent years, and across both Canada and the United States, there are fewer frozen ponds safe enough for outdoor hockey. The ski and snowboard season starts later, and many resorts increasingly rely on man-made snow. One study estimates the ski season could be 50 percent shorter by 2050.
“Ice skating is so big here, when it gets below zero, you have lots of water and everybody’s crazy,” he says. “Everybody wants to skate. You meet people on the water, on the ice; it’s just beautiful.” An iconic Dutch windmill is dwarfed by a modern one in Friesland. The cards and medals of Sgoerd Boersma, 66, who competed in the Elfstedentocht in 1985, 1986 and 1997. LEFT: An iconic Dutch windmill is dwarfed by a modern one in Friesland. RIGHT: The cards and medals of Sgoerd Boersma, 66, who competed in the Elfstedentocht in 1985, 1986 and 1997. ‘People grow up with it’ No country is more crazed over speedskating than the Netherlands.
Skaters pass a windmill in the village of Birdaard during the 1997 Elfstedentocht. Amid the changing climate, the event has not been staged since. “We have now cars and trains and bicycles and that kind of stuff. In the early days, we have nothing,” says Saouka de Groot, 65, whose father, Sietze, won the 1942 edition of the Elfstedentocht. “You skate from village to village. That’s how you visit family, friends.
“Outside, when it becomes ice, we can smell it,” says her mother, Berber Ypma Isinglass. “She has it also. That’s how you can tell she’s real Frisian.” #g-skaterace_chart-box .g-artboard{margin:0 auto}#g-skaterace_chart-box .g-artboard p{margin:0}.g-aiAbs{position:absolute}.g-aiImg{display:block;width:100% !important}.g-aiSymbol{position:absolute;box-sizing:border-box}.g-aiPointText p{white-space:nowrap}#g-skaterace_chart-280{position:relative;overflow:hidden}#g-skaterace_chart-280 p{font-family:FranklinITCProLight,FranklinITCStdLight,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:20px;filter:alpha;-ms-filter:progid:DXImageTransform.
Along the way, the race provides a quaint tour of Dutch winter, taking skaters past acres of frosty pastures, herds of huddled sheep and windmills, both traditional and modern. Family, friends and supporters flood into the 11 towns; the population of the region is expected to more than triple in size on raceday.
“The funny thing about Dutch winters is we have a picture of snow and ice skating. That’s our mental picture of the winter,” he says. “The truth is, it’s gray and dreary.” “Everybody here would call a cold winter a good winter and a mild winter a bad winter,” he says. “In many other countries, I think it’s the opposite.”
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