Winterswijk in Gelderland celebrated a first on Tuesday evening with a marathon on natural ice. There is battle and rivalry behind the first natural ice competition of the season. “If Haaksbergen does call and I don’t, I’m sure I won’t get it.”
Just before 7 p.m., hundreds of people stand in line with orange hats at the entrance to the Winterswijkse IJsvereniging. The sound of skate blades and the sound of trumpets resound through the atmosphere. For a while, Winterswijk is the mecca of Dutch marathon skating.
Ice master Hendrik van Prooije from the local ice skating club had been working on this for a whole day. At 7.20 am he called Geert-Jan Muskens, natural ice coordinator of the KNSB skating association. At that moment he had 3 centimeters of ice everywhere on his 400-meter track. And that was enough for a marathon on natural ice.
But there was one problem. Muskens had not responded to his messages about the ice in Winterswijk. Van Prooije’s patience was running out. “If Haaksbergen calls and I don’t, I’m sure I won’t get it.” And so he gave it a try, haphazardly.
And with success: four hours after his first call, Van Prooije received the good news that Winterswijk could organize the first marathon on natural ice for the first time. “I jumped for joy,” says Van Prooije. “All the emotion came out. It was mainly the relief of not losing.”
Winterswijk celebrated the scoop with at least a thousand people on the sidelines. Photo: ANP
‘It’s prestige and nostalgia’
Every year, behind the first marathon on natural ice, there is a huge battle between ice clubs from the north and east of the country. Skating club IJSCH from Haaksbergen and the Winterswijkse IJsvereniging fought the duel this year.
Chairman Mark van der Wijde of IJSCH even calls it a “race”. His club has already organized ‘the first’ seven times. “You look at where it freezes or snows harder. You also look at the innovations together. It’s prestige and nostalgia. Where will a marathon be held first?”
Four years ago, the first marathon on natural ice in Winterswijk was further away than ever. The local ice skating club was on the verge of death. The club had only 39 members and their average age was over seventy. And while Winterswijk is usually one of the coldest places in the Netherlands in winter.
A call from Van Prooije to the University of Twente made the difference. A professor assigned a student who came up with a self-propelled sprinkler system. In addition, an insulating layer of foam concrete was placed under the roller rink so that the heat underground was less likely to surface.
The goal was to create the most modern ice rink in the Netherlands, in addition to football club FC Trias. The municipality supported it. Costs: no less than 1.1 million euros.
The famous sprinkler system in Winterswijk. Photo: ANP
‘Facial recognition no longer works’
Winterswijk did not immediately join the battle. They could make a layer of ice, but they had too few volunteers. That had to change, they thought at the town hall in Winterswijk. In June, the sports councilor called ice master Van Prooije to talk about the first marathon.
Van Prooije: “The municipality of Winterswijk had invested 1 million euros and knew how much propaganda comes from the first marathon of the year. This is the ultimate. I was already working on it, but politics, society and the club showed that we I really had to give it a try. And then it went really fast.”
From Sunday, about fifteen volunteers worked in shifts in Winterswijk to watch over the self-propelled spraying machine every night. Van Prooije has gotten up at 4 a.m. three nights in a row. He was even there on Monday, while he had a fever.
“I actually had double fever: skating fever and real fever. I have spent more time here than at home in recent days. When I was in bed at home, I did not sleep right away either. The facial recognition on my phone no longer works due to the fatigue.”
Haaksbergen passed Geert-Jan Muskens’ inspection, but he still chose Winterswijk. Photo: ANP
‘Everyone’s breath ran out’
Natural ice coordinator Muskens of the skating association had the thankless task of choosing a winner. He knows the sensitivities. “But it’s about the ice quality and the organization. It was a piece of cake, but the water still had to be cleared in Haaksbergen. I think we made the right choice. It was not about goodwill.”
In Haaksbergen, Muskens’ bad news phone call came as a hammer blow, says chairman Van der Wijde. “All the volunteers were exhausted. But after a cup of coffee and a cookie, the enthusiasm started to bubble again. We opened to visitors this afternoon at 4:30 p.m..”
Van Prooije felt a bit guilty. Haaksbergen had actually helped his club with the construction and development of its course. “They taught the monkey to climb and now we have climbed past them. That was not the intention.”
But there is no animosity. Van der Wijde traveled to Winterswijk on Tuesday evening to personally congratulate his colleagues. That’s how it works in the small world of marathon skating.
Van Prooije will immortalize the first marathon at his ice club. “These waste bins here come from Amsterdam. You can see it in the three crosses. I have always said to everyone: if we get the first marathon, we will make the top cross gold. I wish everyone the best, but I would like to win myself. “
Groenewoud and Visser win
Marijke Groenewoud and Harm Visser became the first winners of the marathon in Winterswijk. In the absence of Irene Schouten, Groenewoud had no children in the competition. Visser was the best in the sprint. Read the report of the matches here.
2024-01-09 20:12:27
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