DOORN, The Netherlands (AP) – A deep winter freeze that has gripped the Netherlands has reawakened the national obsession with ice skating on frozen canals.
With freezing temperatures predicted to last more than a week, icy fever engulfed the nation on Tuesday, offering a welcome respite from grim news about the coronavirus, while also challenging authorities trying to enforce social distance rules. to maintain.
People across the country rummaged in attics and dusted off unused skates for a long time, while companies that sharpen skate blades reported high times.
Speed skating is a national winter passion in the Netherlands, with the country’s spandex-clad top athletes dominating Olympic winter skating competitions in recent years. Amateurs of all ages eagerly await the Arctic conditions allowing them to explore the country’s vast network of canals and waterways.
But now that the country is in strict confinement from the coronavirus, the prospect of a long-distance skating race in the northern province of Friesland taking place for the first time since 1997 remains remote at best.
The association organizing the 11 Cities Tour across frozen canals and lakes said in January that “under current coronavirus measures it is not possible” to host the almost mythical event. Since then, authorities have not relaxed measures, except that elementary school students are returning to class this week.
The association’s president poured more cold water on people’s hopes on Tuesday, noting what kind of production the race normally entails.
“We are talking about a tour with 1–1.5 million spectators, 25,000 participants, thousands of volunteers and half the Netherlands on the way,” Wiebe Wieling told the national broadcaster NOS. “Any good thinking person will realize that such a thing is not possible” amid the pandemic.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte weighed in on the debate on Monday evening and said skating authorities could consider allowing races on natural ice if the country’s top 120 racers end up in a coronavirus bubble. But he also said that it was impossible to organize an event with a large number of spectators, even when it is outside.
Still, Rutte said that the Dutch should take advantage of the conditions for as long as possible.
“Enjoy this beautiful weather and the ice,” said Rutte. “But do that within the COVID-19 rules.”
Dutch media reported a few hardened souls on Tuesday who risked skating on thin ice in parts of the Netherlands, but for now temporary ice rinks were the safest place to put on your skates.
Local school children visited the skating club in Doorn, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, which created its ice rink by spraying water on an inline skating rink outside and built an even ice surface by dragging a Persian carpet around it.
Channels are expected to be frozen tightly enough later in the week for people to skate. The authorities in Amsterdam have closed locks and banned boats on parts of the city’s World Heritage-listed canal belt to give them a greater chance of freezing.
However, the municipality also warned skaters to adhere to social distance and other coronavirus restrictions.
“The coronavirus rules for public places also apply to the ice,” City Hall said.
It was not just skating fans who prepared for the great cold.
A zoo in the central Netherlands on Tuesday moved 15 penguins in and out of the cold. Unlike their Antarctic cousins, the black-footed penguins come from South Africa and Namibia and are not used to such icy conditions, Burgers’ Zoo said.
The freezing cold also created natural ice sculptures in a marina in the village of Monnikendam, just north of Amsterdam on the Markermeer, with boats moored in swirling ice plates.
Lines of wind-blown icicles hung from boat rails and ropes, and ice covered a series of swings and trees for children at the edge of the snow-covered frozen waters of the lake.
“We live in the most beautiful painting of the 17th century,” said Rutte.
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Corder reported from The Hague, the Netherlands.