This was an entry for a writing competition in which we had to make a literary snapshot. So I took one moment and wrote about it, the start for 1 participant of a Dutch ice-skating competition
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The Netherlands, the province Friesland. Or Fryslân as the Frisians call it. Siebe Wiersma stands casually on the ice with a pair of dark-blue ice-skates on his feet. He wears a blue thermo-suit and a black woollen hat covers most of his hay-blond hair. The blue sky is devoid of clouds and the winter sun shines down on the frozen waterway. Every time he exhales he forms an additional cloud which evaporates almost instantly. It’s cold, -10°C according to the weather report and the previous days had been equally cold. That is all good news, because now the ice is thick enough for the sixteen thousand participants of the famous Eleven city tour. He can’t help but smile as he looks at the other ice-skaters around him.
The last tour he has witnessed was as a boy of six, standing in a meadow at the side of a frozen waterway with his grandfather. And now as a young man of twenty-five he will actually fulfil his dream and participate. It’s a shame his grandfather isn’t around anymore, but he knows his parents and sister are standing somewhere along the route, ready to cheer him on.
The cold wind on his cheeks doesn’t bother him and the smile seems etched on his face. Excitement and enthusiasm fill his heart as he smoothly glides towards his starting location while he puts on a pair of sunglasses. His group is next to start, with the massive amount of participants it is necessary to let groups of one thousand people start every fifteen minutes. Spectators cheer them on as the all the ice-skaters gather. The joy and enthusiasm everyone shares is almost tangible and Siebe is proud to be part of it. All the spectators wear thick clothes to keep themselves warm. Some are dressed in orange, the national colour, or red-white-blue, the colours of the national flag. There are festive hats and flags all around and everyone seems to have a great time.
A nervous feeling bubbles up in Siebe’s stomach as the start-shot draws near. This is not his first competition, but it is the biggest. His aim is not to win, he just wants to finish. That is something not every participant can. Of course winning would be better and he promises himself to end with the best time he can. This is the reason why he has trained long-distance ice-skating for all those years after all.
He gets ready and when the start-shot is given the nervousness vanishes and the earlier excitement returns. He pushes off against the ice to begin his almost two-hundred kilometer long Alvestêdetocht.
(a small note about the title: Alvestêdetocht is the Frisian word for the Dutch word Elfstedentocht, which translates to Eleven City Tour in English. It’s an official ice-skating competition on natural ice going through eleven cities of the province Friesland. Hence the name. It’s a well-known and big thing in the Netherlands. Sadly the last one was in 1997 because the ice didn’t get thick enough in the winters since then.
Another fun fact: Frisian (Fries in Dutch or Frysk in Frisian) is the second official language of the Netherlands, even though only people in Friesland (one of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands) actually speak it.)
*** © Mariska Bekker ***