This event is so legendary that even a lot of our Olympic Skaters would gladly give up their gold medals just to be able to participate in this event once

can we watch the famous dutch show: Te land, ter zee en in de lucht. It runs for 39 seasons(excluding the compliations) . Its so much fun. Even without subs.

this actually made me cry a little. It is very unlikely that this tour will ever take place again. Our winters now are not cold and mostly wet. Our King Willem Alexander, also finished the tour. He is so proud of it that he wore his little cross among his other medals when he was crowned. Oh, this brings back sweet memories. In front of the tv all day long!

My dad actually participated in the last Elfstedentocht (1997). He had just recovered from a groin rupture and was only released from the hospital 5 days before the event. But then they announced the Elfstedentocht would take place and he called the doctor if he was allowed to go. The doctor said no way, you own't even make it to the first city. He went anyway and only had to quit at the 9th city before going back to the hospital. But he was extremely happy that he participated as it was the last edition up till now.

As a kid, I got Everts autograph.   In 1997 I was able to skate the last elfstedentocht myself. 1 million people coming to Friesland to watch and skating in to these small towns and seeing thousands and thousands of people cheering you on is something spectacular. I will never forget that day.

An uncle of mine partook in that years tour, at a certain point he broke one of his skates but then another skater injured himself on that part of the course and couldn't continue, he gave my uncle his skates to finish and so he did. After that they formed a great friendship going on skating tours together. Us family watched the event on TV at my aunts with all cousins together having some hot chocolate.

Fun Fact: the CEO of a company I used to work for had a clause in his labor contract that said he could leave work at any given time in order to participate in the Elfstedentocht. I kid you not!

And today, in 2026, the Elfstedentocht hasn't been held for almost 30 years. Last week was cold with lots of snow. And a layer of snow isn't good for creating ice. And last night, they even predicted minus 10 degrees Celsius, but it only reached minus 5. And next week, temperatures will be back up to plus 10 degrees. This is what winters are like in the Netherlands these days.

Prince Willem Alexander:
On February 26, 1986, halfway through the Eleven Cities Tour, it was announced that skater W.A. van Buren, who had started early in the morning with starting card number 1, was none other than the 18-year-old conscripted marine: Prince Willem Alexander. Son of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus.

The Queen was there for another special reason... Her son and now our King Willem Alexander did the tour under a different name and she waited for him to arrive safely

I'm a 53yo Surinamese-Dutch woman living here for 50 years, and the first 2 things I learned after we moved here were: swimming and iceskating during my first year in The Hague and Scheveningen. Learning to ride the bike followed the year later. If they would announce that the Elfstedentocht would be posible this winter, you bet your hiney even I would be making preparations for the live TV event. Id be wearing an orange knit hat and pair of gloves, eating erwtensoep (pea soup) hile cheering the skaters on in my warm home.
It would also mean that we would be able to skate on the ponds as well, so I would be skating again on the nearby ponds with my sons. I love snow. Snow makes me happy like a little kid, but ice? You bet I'm going to skate again! Stupid global warming....

OMG. That is a cute cat.

So something interesting to look into is the guy who did this tour in summer. HE SWAM THE WHOLE 200KM, to raise money for cancer research as he himself is a cancer survivor.

His name is Maarten van der Weijden.

You should watch the movie De hel van '63 (=The hell of '63), it's about the Elfstedentocht of 1963, during the coldest winter in the twentieth century in the Netherlands. It's become iconic. Only a small number of skaters managed to reach the finish.
And each year we hope and pray for a real long, cold winter so we can skate the Elfstedentocht again.
About the stamps, in the last Elfstedentocht (1997) one of our well known skaters, Piet Kleine, did complete the tour but one of the stamps was missing. Although he could prove he was  there at that precise point (TV images) he didn't receive the little silver cross and  was removed from the list with endresults. Very hard, but those are the rules. Also if you arrive 1 minute too late at the finish, you don't get one.

Nice cat!

Us Dutch are nuts!!🎉😂

The look of amazement on his face is just priceless hahaha.
Fun story: Couple years ago some guy decided to swim the entire 200km course in one guy. First time he didnt make it and ended up in the hospital. Mad lad tried again and finished it the second time.

Our harbors used to freeze over for weeks each winter. That rarely happens anymore. We are lucky if we get 3 freezing days in a row (where the temperature is also freezing during the day, so ice only gets thicker). But for the 11 city tour: we need at least 15 cm (?) of ice: everywhere on the route (including under bridges, where it freezes much slower). So, on the rare occasion that we do have say 10 days of freezing in a row: we call the district ice managers: and demand to know how thick the ice is.

If its thick enough: the leader of the 11 city tour will pronounce in Frisian: "It Giet Oan!": 'we are doing it'. Then there is a real frenzy. Only about 15.000 people can join, but 100.000+ people want to ride. Some people wait years, decades: to be allowed to ride. We are waiting 24 years already now for a new one to happen (last one was in 1997).

We watch this live at school all day long on a projection big screen, sweet memories! 🤗
Evert van Benthem won it twice, also in 1986! Nowadays he lives in Canada as a dairy farmer! ✌🏼

The hell of '63 is a Dutch movie about the elf steden tocht at 1963 when it was really cold with snow blizzards and all crazy sh*t. Maybe you can watch it sometimes.

like there is a predator on earth that would not think "those guys are too crazy for me"