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The KNSB skating association will measure around 9:00 on Wednesday morning whether the ice is thick enough to hold a marathon on natural ice that same evening. Where this will take place will not be known until one hour before the measurement.
According to the skating association, Frisian Burgum and Noordlaren in Groningen currently have the best chance of holding the first marathon on natural ice. Northern Laren won the competition for the first natural ice marathon in 2021. Haaksbergen (Overijssel) and Nieuw-Buinen (Drenthe) are also still in the competition.
“80% chance”
“It looks like we will reach the minimum thickness of 3 centimeters on Wednesday morning. Where? I dare not say yet,” says competition leader Willem Hut. “It may well be that we can measure in more places. Expectations are good, but everything has yet to happen.”
According to Hut, there is an “80 percent chance” that a marathon on natural ice will be held on Wednesday evening. “It could be at any of the four ice rinks mentioned.”
The last Dutch natural ice marathon took place on December 26 last year in Noordlaren, with Maaike Verweij and Bart Hoolwerf as winners. Because the thaw came later, he was left with that one game.
New Amsterdam/Veenoord
Normally the ice club Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord also participates in the battle to win the first marathon on natural ice. This is not possible at the moment due to renovation work on the track. Puttershoek in South Holland has also been counted among the contenders by the KNSB this year, but the construction of the ice rink is not progressing fast enough.
