The Netherlands is waiting 24 winters for a cold wave like this. There is not much wind, nor much snow, and temperatures are dropping like a bicycle on the canal. That’s because these are the precise conditions required for the ultimate Dutch sporting event: a 200-kilometer speed skating race on frozen canals across 11 cities in Friesland.
It is known as Elfstedentocht. And it’s pronounced … don’t worry about it.
Because it depends a lot on the weather, the race has only been run 15 times since 1909, the most recent in 1997. There has never been a drought this long. The Dutch feared that climate change would mean that they would never have a cold or long enough winter again – until they left last weekend and found that the weather was starting to cooperate with teenage temperatures.
There is only one problem now: the stars of Elfstedentocht are lining up in the middle of a pandemic. Under the current restrictions of Covid-19 in the Netherlands, the race would not be allowed, even if the ice became thick enough.
This did not stop Dutch speed skaters from watching the weather and their government, praying for a way to make it possible. The most famous people in the country today are meteorologists.