After The Gold Rush

[hubird]

I'm not really interested in sport, ('we won', where just one person won), but you won't see often a picture like this.
Three times Orange: two brothers Mulder plus Jan Smeekens on the podium.

After the Gold Rush:

sochi2014-500m.jpg (17.47 KiB) Viewed 788 times

[Marco]

I dont like the stupido Putin, this year no Olympia for me!

[dawman]

Cool seeing such small nations whooping China, Russia and the USSRA.

[hubird]

Thanks mr. gentlemen
Last weeks I learned from dutch sport commentators that (ice) scating isn't very popular in the world, to say the least.
So one could say the competition is small.
But...

Dutch were always good at long distance races.
You've probably heard about the classic '11 City Skating Race' in Holland, on natural ice, for amateurs and professionals. City is a big word tho.

If you were an amature and started at 6 o'clock in the morning you would be glad to finish befor dark at 17 o'clock.
Up to the sixties there were only 'favorites', the prize was the medal and the honour.
You were glad to have skates at all, befor and after the war.
The race could be quite tough, in 1947 there were a lot of frozen toes, noses and eyes, like also in 1963.
The race happens to be only sporadically, especially last decades, in upwarming Holland.
The yearly alternative in Switserland got cancelled recently because of extreme snowfall on the race lake tho.

Long distance races are in our genes so they say.
Ard Schenk and Kees Verkerk, those days.
But it looks that's 'we' can sprint now, which is relatively new.

I learned from the coach on tv that a skater, even in a relatively short race, should get his bload circulation in sinc with his legs movements: blood through at muscle relaxation.
And that you must 'grab' the curve, as 'that's fantastic'

1909, 1917, 1963:

[siriusbliss]

That was quite a race - and controversial ending.
.01 second! Wow!

G