In the winter I like to put on my skates and try to go as fast as I can on the ice. No, I am not Olympic material and I never will be but I try to have the maximum amount of fun!
As a little kid I started on a pair of
Nijdam skates. Somewhere in 1991 I switched to Viking
Marathon Specials and 
Specials, changing back and
forth. In 1995 I tried the new clap skates for the first time. Pretty cool
material. After breaking the Viking clap skate I tried the Raps Rotrax but I never really got adjusted to them. Then I went
back to my nine year old Viking Marathon Specials and mounted a FINN clap
set for season
1999/2000. Now I was using my late friend Zwanny's Viking
Special Sprint skates for two seasons. Keeping his skates moving was a very big
honor to me. You can see some pictures of Zwanny skating
here. This season I am using a pair
of Viking Allround skates with a Finn Clap mechanism.
In the Summer I like to change to rollerblades.
Since 1991 I have been a member of the IJsclub Eindhoven (IJCE) and I used to skate on the Eindhoven Ice Track (licence # EV01001). Because I moved in December of 2000 I joined the Hardrijvereniging Den Haag Westland (HVHW) , part of the KNSB Gewest Zuid-Holland (licence # DH42897). Skating takes place on the Uithof. Another club that I am a member of is the >Masters Longtrack Speedskating Circuit.
There are two types of races I like to do: the traditional long track races like the ones you see on the Winter Olympics and the long distance pack style skating we call marathon speed skating.
| Distance |
|
Date | Track |
|
Date | Track |
| 500m |
45,26 |
13-02-2005 | De Uithof, Den Haag |
43,45 |
20-03-1996 | Thialf Heerenveen |
| 1.000m |
1.29,49 |
06-02-2005 | De Uithof, Den Haag |
1.26,09 |
20-03-1996 | Thialf Heerenveen |
| 1.500m |
2.14,79 |
17-12-2004 | Thialf Heerenveen |
2.12,85 |
20-03-1996 | Thialf Heerenveen |
| 3.000m |
4.50,48 |
06-02-2005 | De Uithof, Den Haag |
4.39,77 |
15-03-1995 | Thialf Heerenveen |
| 5.000m |
8.14,00 |
25-02-1996 | Eindhoven | |||
| 10.000m |
17.02,60 |
23-03-1996 | Thialf Heerenveen |
At the end of each season I like to try and skate the best
times of the season at an event called PAST. This gives you
an opportunity to skate at the 'holy' ice in Thialf Heerenveen.
When the winter really kicks in I enjoy skating tours on lakes, rivers and canals. Last big tour was the 1997 Elfstedentocht which I did one day after the 'real event' with a couple of my skate mates. It took us twelve hours and one of my mates' eyes were frozen but it was a great experience!
All sorts of links to ice speed skating sites can be found on the Dutch Schaatspagina.
Visit one of these skater sites:
For those who wonder who the guy on this wallpaper is: that's Dave Cruikshank
