Dutch marathon skater Hans Schipper wins both the 50K Open Canadian Marathon Championship and the inaugural alternative "Elfstedentocht" 200K Marathon in Sylvan Lake, Alberta.

SYLVAN LAKE, Alberta

On Thursday, February 26th, and Saturday, February 28th, two-time Elfstedentocht winner, skating legend Evert van Benthem, his family, friends and volunteers of the Foothills Speed Skating Marathon Association organized a number of speed skating races on the 10K race track on Sylvan Lake.

The two most important races were the 50K Open Canadian Marathon Championship on Thursday and the first ever 200K Marathon in Western Canada on Saturday, comparable with the original around 200K Eleven-Cities-Tour (Elfstedentocht) held in Friesland, The Netherlands, whenever possible. It was remarkable that some 200 visitors from The Netherlands, skaters, spouses, sponsors and volunteers participated in this year's event, and this number is certain to grow over the next years!

There were numerous sponsors this year, with SPITZ Alberta Sunflower Seeds becoming the event's major sponsor. There was again a great typical Dutch "gezellig" cozy atmosphere, with real Dutch 'snert' pea soup and Dutch music!

THE OPEN CANADIAN MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP

Although a lot warmer than last year's first Sylvan Lake Marathon with temperatures around the -21 degrees Celsius, this year's 50K Marathon, with temperatures just under the freezing point, was not any easier. Light snow limited visibility of any cracks in the ice resulting in numerous falls, none however affected the end results and only one skater required first-aid, an ice pack for his swollen hand.

Evert van Benthem was the official starter and with his gunshot at 10 AM some 75 skaters took off in what was going to be an exciting race. After 20K a lead group of 7 men escaped from the pack: American Andy Dahlstrom, Dutch skaters Hans Schipper, Evert's younger brother Henk van Benthem and Henk Portengen and Canadians Hill Blaine from Edmonton and Evert's sons Rolf (20) and Merein van Benthem (17). A few escapes followed, there were some falls and a lead group of four skaters was established with 15K to go, and the race became a personal duel between Hans Schipper and the three van Benthems! Schipper was able to withstand a number of escape attempts by this threesome and in a sprint beat both Henk van Benthem, who ended as second and Rolf van Benthem who took third place, closely followed by his younger brother Merein! 60-Year-old Marathon phenomenon Willem Langenberg from Edmonton ended in 23rd position.The winning time of Hans Schipper, who is from Warmond, The Netherlands, was 1 hour, 32:56 minutes.

The Ladies' Champion was Chelsey Parker from Calgary, Alberta in a time of 1-hour 49:28 minutes. Second place went to Tineke Dijkshoorn from Schipluiden, The Netherlands and local Red Deer resident Kelsey Duffield took third.

Following the 50K Marathon, there was the opportunity to participate in an Open Tour Event, whereby the participants had to obtain a stamp on their personal race card after every 10K round.

THE 200K MARATHON RACE

It was still dark when the mass start of the 200K Marathon took place on Saturday. Initially it was very foggy, but the sun did not stay away too long. Ice conditions were a lot better than on Thursday as cracks in the ice were now clearly visible. The pack stayed together for the first 30K, after which, under the leadership of Henk van Benthem, a lead group of 11 skaters was established, with Dutchmen Corts, van de Groep, Oudhuis, Jaap & Henk van Benthem and of course 50K winner Schipper, Americans Kandola, Kramer, Dahlstrom and Canadians brothers Rolf & Merein van Benthem.

This lead group worked well together and at no point gave up their lead to the pack. Halfway through the 50K Marathon, this international ensemble lost Mark Kandola and van de Groep. Because of increased tempo and escape attempts in particular by the strong American Andy Dahlstrom and Henk & Merein van Benthem, Bob Kramer and Jaap & Rolf van Benthem were unable to keep pace with the lead group and dropped out of the lead group with 30K to go. This strategy worked again when the lead group was reduced to four skaters when Jan-Dirk Corts and Jan Oudhuis could also no longer keep pace.

There was of course an intense sprint to the finish, where more than a thousand spectators waited to cheer them on. And it was again Hans Schipper who crossed the finish line first in a time of 7 hours, 3:45 minutes, just ahead of countryman Henk van Benthem from Ens, Flevoland, 17-year old Merein van Benthem of Innesfail, Alberta and Andy Dahlstrom of Seattle, Washington who became fourth.

There were also a number of Tour Races on the same day. A total of $10,000 in prize money was made available for all the races, thanks to the many generous sponsors.

These were two great race days and we already look forward to 2005, which will prove maybe not to be better, as this was perfectly organized, but certainly bigger, as this successful event becomes well known in the international skating community!