The tour, almost 200 km in length, follows a closed or circular route along frozen canals, rivers and lakes visiting the eleven historic Frisian cities: Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum See more

There has been mention of skaters visiting all eleven cities of Friesland on one day since 1760. The Elfstedentocht was already part of … See more

The time taken for the winner to complete the course is given in hours and minutes. Although temperatures were sometimes above freezing on the day of the tour, all tours were preceded by many days of sub-zero temperatures.
Women were first … See more

An "alternative Elfstedentocht" has been held every year in January since 1989 on the Weissensee in Carinthia, Austria.
The 930 mAA (3051 ft) lake is 12 km long and around 3000 … See more

Since the Elfstedentocht is such a rare event, its declaration creates excitement all over the country. In the build-up to a possible race in 2012, Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister remarked "once every fifteen years our country is not governed from The … See more

The ten-day cold spell in late January and early February 2012, the 33rd such occurrence since 1901 when temperatures as low as -22.9 °C were recorded in Lelystad, … See more

The course can vary slightly from race to race, depending on the quality of the ice. The cumulative distance at each checkpoint in 1997 … See more