Published January 2009



Past 2 weeks have been crazy here in the Netherlands. But that happens when the waters get frozen and ice is thick enough to hold the thousends of ice skaters. Past weekend they estimated that over 80.000 Dutch skated on natural ice on Saturday and Sunday. Ofcourse then it's ideal also to get attention ... so we as kicksledsport supporters could not stay at the sideline.

As soon as the ice was thick enough the Dutch kicksled committee organised a so called kicksledtry-out on Dec. 31 2008. A beautifull day on Drontermeer in central Netherlands (near Elburg). Sunny weather and lots of people tried the kicksleds, which could be borrowed for a short perioud of time. A photo gallery with pictures taken can found here >



Two days later on Friday January 2d the kicksled promo team organised again a tryout, but this time in south of Netherlands near Arnhem. A great day. A bit foggy wet weather but great enthousiasm again on the ice and ofcourse the so called "heeeeij what is that ?- effect" ...kicksled has in Lowlands.

Next day again activities. The national footbike organ in Netherlands (NAF) organised a duatlon. 20km skating and 20 km footbiking. Just a test 'thingy'. Brainstormed a week before, dropped a page online and voila one has a duatlon. 14 people took part just to try out and 7 people helped out organising it. Conclusion this will be repeated in future!
Maybe it's something to do every winter. Because the skating part was done on an outside 5 km artificial ice track (FlevOnice). Unique in the wolrd. So we do not need real strong winter for it. They can keep the 5 km track frozen if it's around 0-5C.

The duatlon took part in morning and after finish, lunch and a hot cup of chocolatemilk all participaters joined the NAF kicksled committee on the natural lakes nearby to try kicksleds.



Next day Sunday January 4th a historic momentum... the first National Dutch Kicksled Championships took place on natural ice in Netherlands. In mean while the skate hype dimmed that day because the temperatures were warmer and there was some water on the ice and rain. But the ice was still 8 cm so thick enough to organise a Kicksled Championship (and we had no worries hundreds of skaters blocking our tracks. So in a way good conditions).

We send out a press release (a few days before it) and a lot of national press responded. That shows how ice crazy one gets in the Lowlands in winter times. Everything which has to do with ice an sport is hyped. We had almost more press then participaters. So that was a bit scary at first when we announced that we would organise a NC we had no entries and we had already 5 newspapers that told us they would come an make photos. So that is a bit scary if you have more press then entries. But on NC day our herous showed up on the ice. (of which some never had used a kicksled before).

All in all a great event. It was cold, wet, windy... it was hystorical. And we toosted afterwards in the nearby pub/restaurant in the harbour of Elburg. Ofcourse one can not realy prepare such an event in a climate like ours, because we organised it on very short notice. Just 2 days before we released that NC would take place and then you have the risk that not many will take part. Simply because of the fact they have no kicksled or can not make time off on such short notice. But it is essential to take first steps. And this first NC in NL was for the history books.

We decided that the NC had to be battled out in an allround championship of 200 m, 1 km and 10 km. (In future maybe we'll add longer distances but we had not many experience kicksled riders at startline, so we aimed for a do-able programme). And that all together gave a national champion.
In men's category there was a nice battle to see. Rik vd Molen won first 2 distances and Rene Elzinga won the 10 km. And calculated that in points made Rene Elzinga overall Kicksled Champion 2009. In womens category young talent Maxime Reijne won the title. It was her second time ever on a kicksled. The total resultlist and point calculation can be found at www.autoped.nl/nk-stepslee.
More photos of the NC can be found here >

Best regards, Thijza Brouwer




NC Kicksled Netherlands January 4th 2009 - Drontermeer



Maxime Reijne in her 1 km


Rene Elzinga (for first time on a kicksled)



Here some digital press links:
http://www.omroepgelderland.nl/index.php?id=63488
http://www.hartvannederland.nl/localitem/17292/NK_stepslee_n_op_natuurijs http://www.rtvoost.nl/nieuws/Default.aspx?nid=91833&cat=1 http://www.locomediagroep.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7952&Itemid=91 http://www.blikopnieuws.nl/extern_bericht/408483
http://www.regiosportaktueel.nl/nieuws.php?nieuws_id=27209®io=&nieuws= http://www.regionieuws.nl/nieuws/230091/NK_stepslee_op_natuurijs_in_Elburg.html http://www.destentor.nl/regio/kampen/4282999/Eerste-NK-stepslee-op-natuurijs-bij-Elburg.ece http://www.genemuidenactueel.nl/pivot/entry.php?id=3844
http://lelystad.flevopost.nl/?n_id=82526
http://nieuws.overijssel.nl/partners/rtvoost/news/51603/

And several articles in some nation wide papers like AD and METRO.


Erik de Groot giving interview


Maxime and Rosanne Reijne on TV giving interview about NC kicksled



Source: Dutch kicksled committee NAF
Photos: Stephan Bouman and Gerben Koridon