Evert van Benthem

Dutch speed skater

Evert van Benthem
Evert van Benthem
Personal information
Born (1958-11-21) 21 November 1958 (age 65)
Sint Jansklooster, Netherlands
Sport
CountryNetherlands
SportSpeed skating
Retired1997
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)1985 Elfstedentocht
1986 Elfstedentocht

Evert van Benthem (born 21 November 1958) is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.

Early career

Van Benthem, a farmer from Leeuwte, near Vollenhove in The Netherlands, became involved in marathon skating in the early 1980s. He started racing in the A-class in 1983, which involved longer races (100 km instead of 40 km), and finished third in the Dutch championship in 1985.[1]

Elfstedentocht 1985

In 1985, it had been 22 years since the last Elfstedentocht. The event is skated on natural ice in Friesland, at a distance of 196.8 kilometres (122.3 mi). On 21 February 1985, van Benthem won the 13th Elfstedentocht. Van Benthem entered the final stretch of the race into Leeuwarden together with Jan Kooiman, Jos Niesten and Henri Ruitenberg, all marathon speed skaters. Van Benthem won the sprint, completing the race in 6 hours 47 mins, an average of 29.0 kilometres per hour (18.0 mph).

Elfstedentocht 1986

One year later, on 26 February 1986, the competition was held again. The leading pack near the end of the race included, Rein Jonker, Robert Kamperman and van Benthem. Van Benthem kept the lead and won again, with a time of 6 hours 55 mins 17 secs.

Elfstedentocht 1997

The next Elfstedentocht took place in 1997, after van Benthem's retirement. He still entered the event but without trying to win, drawing much public attention.[1] His brother, Henk van Benthem, finished fourth in the race.

Emigration

In the summer of 1999 van Benthem and his family decided to move to Spruce View, Alberta, Canada.[2] His farm in the Netherlands was located in a natural preservation area and thus could not expand. Moreover, Van Benthem said he had gotten tired of the attention.[1] Van Benthem has a dairy farm in Spruce View, 320 hectares in size with 175 cows. An "Alternative Elfstedentocht" has been organized since 2003, but van Benthem's goal of having the Dutch top skaters regularly competing has not come to fruition.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Volkers, John (3 February 2012). "Helemaal los van schaatsen, zonder een moment van spijt - De Elfstedentocht - VK". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  2. ^ Bosch, Eelco (8 February 2012). "Op bezoek bij Evert van Benthem in Canada - NOS Nieuws" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  • v
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Elfstedentocht
Year Date Temperature Winner (*) Time Distance Average speed
1909 2 January n/a Minne Hoekstra [nl] 13:50 189 km 13.7 km/h
1912 7 February 3.8°C Coen de Koning 11:40 189 km 16.2 km/h
1917 27 January -1.8°C Coen de Koning 9:53 189 km 19.1 km/h
1929 12 February -10.1°C Karst Leemburg [nl] 11:09 191 km 17.1 km/h
1933 16 December -2.0°C
  • Abe de Vries [nl]
  • Sipke Castelein [nl]
 9:53 195 km 19.7 km/h
1940 30 January -6.1°C
  • Piet Keijzer [nl]
  • Auke Adema
  • Cor Jongert [nl]
  • Durk van der Duim [nl]
  • Sjouke Westra [nl]
 11:34 198.5 km 17.3 km/h
1941 7 February 0.0°C Auke Adema 9:19 198.5 km 21.3 km/h
1942 22 January -11.7°C Sietze de Groot [nl] 8:44 198 km 22.7 km/h
1947 8 February -8.5°C Jan W. van der Hoorn [nl] 10:51 191 km 17.6 km/h
1954 3 February -5.4°C Jeen van den Berg 7:35 198.5 km 26.2 km/h
1956 14 February -4.9°C no winner declared (**) — 190.5 km —
1963 18 January -7.7°C Reinier Paping 10:59 196.5 km 17.9 km/h
Winner men Winner women (*)
1985 21 February 0.3°C Evert van Benthem Lenie van der Hoorn [nl] 6:47 196.8 km 29.0 km/h
1986 26 February -6.9°C Evert van Benthem Tineke Dijkshoorn [nl] 6:55 199.3 km 28.8 km/h
1997 4 January -3.6°C Henk Angenent Klasina Seinstra [nl] 6:49 199.6 km 29.3 km/h
  • "History" (in Dutch). Vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden [Association of the Eleven Fries Cities]. Retrieved 26 September 2010.

* Women were first allowed to take part in the tour proper in 1985; before then they had to skate with the amateurs and no award was given.

** After shared wins in 1933 and 1940, when the front-runners decided not to compete but join hands to cross the line together, this practice was forbidden by the organisation. Jan van der Hoorn, Aad de Koning, Jeen Nauta, Maus Wijnhout and Anton Verhoeven however ignored this rule when they crossed the finish line in unison. They were not disqualified, but no winner was declared.

  • "3,000 Skaters in 124-mile race". The Times. No. 48527. London. 31 January 1940. col B, p. 7. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
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