The 200km ice skating race through eleven Frisian cities — last held in 1997, may never happen again
Part of: Dutch Sports, Climate & Weather
The Elfstedentocht — Eleven Cities Tour — is a long-distance ice skating race and recreational tour through the eleven historic cities of Friesland, the northern province of the Netherlands. The route is approximately 200 kilometres, following frozen canals and lakes between Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum, and back to Leeuwarden.
It is one of the most mythologised sporting and cultural events in Dutch life. It has been held only fifteen times since 1909. The last time was 4 January 1997.
For the Elfstedentocht to be held, the ice must be at least 15 centimetres thick across the entire 200-kilometre route — every canal, every lake, every stretch between the eleven cities. This is a logistical and meteorological near-miracle. Inspectors travel the route for days beforehand. The decision to hold it is announced with very little notice, sometimes the night before.
When the announcement comes — "het gaat door" (it's happening) — the country stops. People call in sick to work. Trains to Friesland fill instantly. Hundreds of thousands of spectators line the route. Roughly 16,000 skaters start; many do not finish.
The Elfstedentocht is not just a sporting event. It is a national myth — a test of endurance, Dutch toughness, and collective experience that binds a generation. People who skated it in 1985 or 1997 talk about it the way others talk about being at a historic concert or witnessing a singular moment. Even those who only watched it on television share the memory.
The winner gets a small gold pin. That is the prize. It is enough.
Climate change has made the Elfstedentocht an endangered event. The winters that produce 15cm of ice across Friesland are becoming rarer. Recent climate studies suggest that under current trajectories, the Elfstedentocht might occur only once every 32 years — and without significant emissions reductions, may not happen again before the end of the century.
2026 marks 29 winters in a row without one. The Dutch skating federation still maintains the organisation, still has the membership rolls, still inspects the ice in cold winters — and still waits.
The AMOC slowdown, which could paradoxically cause colder winters in northwestern Europe, is sometimes discussed as a factor that might occasionally restore the right conditions. But this is speculative, and most climate scientists do not treat it as cause for optimism about the race's future.
Dutch royalty has skated it. Prime ministers have been associated with it. Winning the Elfstedentocht is one of the very few things in Dutch public life that generates something close to unqualified national pride — not the complicated, contested pride of politics, but the simple kind that comes from watching someone complete something genuinely hard in terrible cold.
The most famous moment: in 1963, skaters finishing in blizzard conditions, frostbitten, some hallucinating. It became a story told ever since about what the Dutch are capable of when the ice holds.
These guides are written to help you understand the Netherlands — not to replace professional advice. We do our best to be accurate but we make mistakes and information goes out of date. For anything that affects your legal status, taxes, finances, or health, verify with an official source or a qualified advisor.