Friday, January 9, 2009

Dutch National Marathon Championship

No, this isn't about running. It's the marathon speedskating championship, held on Thursday. This is the first time since 1996 that the championship has been held on natural ice (this is not to be confused with the Elfstedentocht, mentioned eariler on this blog). This men's race is 100km long over a 4.3km circuit. This is ten times longer than the longest Olympic speedskating event. The women do 60km.

Normally, the marathon is held on a long track ice oval. So it's a lot like NASCAR--always turning left. On natural ice, the irregular shape of the circuit requires an occasional right turn. A skater spends much of their time perfecting the crossover turn technique while going left. So this is like asking Tiger Woods to occasionally tee off left-handed.

Men's highlight reel (about 10 min)...



Women's highlight reel (about 10 min)...

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