DOORN, Netherlands (AP) – An intense winter cold that hits the Netherlands is stirring up the national obsession to skate on frozen canals.
With sub-zero temperatures expected to last more than a week, ice fever swept the country on Tuesday, offering a welcome break from the dark news of the coronavirus, while creating a challenge for authorities trying to keep the rules of social distance.
People across the country were rummaging through attics and dusting off unused skates, while companies that sharpen skateboard blades reported boom times.
Ice skating is a national winter passion in the Netherlands, with the country’s elite spandex-clad athletes dominating speed skating races in recent years. Amateurs of all ages are eagerly awaiting Arctic conditions that allow them to access the country’s vast network of canals and waterways.
But with the country in a strict coronavirus blockade, the prospect of a long-distance skating race in the northern province of Friesland, being disputed for the first time since 1997, remains, at best, remote.
The association that organizes the 11 Cities Tour over frozen lakes and canals said in January that “under the current measures of the coronavirus, it is not possible to organize” the almost mythical event. Since then, authorities have not relaxed the measures other than allowing elementary school students to return to classrooms this week.
The association’s president poured more cold water on people’s hopes on Tuesday, noting what kind of production the race normally involves.
“We are talking about a tour with 1–1.5 million viewers, 25,000 participants, thousands of volunteers and half of the Netherlands on the road,” Wiebe Wieling told national broadcaster NOS. “Anyone who thinks correctly will realize that something like this is not possible” in the midst of the pandemic.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte gave his opinion on the debate on Monday night, saying that skating authorities could consider allowing races on natural ice if the country’s top 120 riders enter the coronavirus bubble. But he also said that organizing an event with a large number of spectators is out of the question, even if it is outdoors.
Still, Rutte said the Dutch should make the most of conditions while they last.
“Enjoy this beautiful climate and the ice,” said Rutte. “But do this within the rules of COVID-19.”
Dutch media reported that some resilient souls risked skating on thin ice in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday, but for the time being temporary ice bands were the safest place to tie skates.
Local students visited the skating club in Doorn, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, which created its rink by spraying water on an outdoor skating rink and built a uniform ice surface by dragging a Persian rug around it.
The channels are expected to freeze enough by the end of the week for people to skate. Authorities in Amsterdam closed locks and banned boats on parts of the city’s canal ring, listed as a World Heritage Site, to give them a better chance of freezing.
The municipality, however, also warned skaters to pay attention to social distance and other restrictions on coronavirus.
“Coronavirus rules for public places also apply to ice,” said the city.
It was not just ice skating fans who were preparing for the great cold.
A zoo in central Holland pulled 15 penguins in and out of Tuesday’s cold. Unlike their Antarctic cousins, black-footed penguins come from South Africa and Namibia and are not used to these icy conditions, Burgers’ Zoo said.
Freezing conditions have also created natural ice sculptures at a marina in the village of Monnikendam, just north of Amsterdam, on Lake Markermeer, with boats moored in revolving ice sheets.
Lines of icicles blown by the wind hung from the boats’ rails and ropes, and the ice covered a set of swings and children’s trees near the edge of the snow-covered frozen lake.
“We are living in the most beautiful painting of the 17th century,” said Rutte.
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Corder reported from The Hague, Holland.