"With the wind at my back to Stavoren"

Up to Stavoren, the wind was at my back. Then came the stretch to Dokkum: 110 kilometres against a fierce northeast wind. I stopped for the first time in Bolsward, where an officer asked if I wanted to take off my skates. I thanked her but thought, "I’ll never get them back on."

What an enthusiastic crowd in every town, with plenty of food and drinks along the way. This is something you have to experience for yourself. From Dokkum to Leeuwarden, many skaters fell in the dark. There was groaning and moaning in the reeds, but I didn’t fall even once. In the municipality of Brederwiede, I was honoured alongside Evert van Benthem, who lived just around the corner in Leeuwte.

Making a call

To keep my family updated during the race, I had taped a guilder to a piece of paper. I handed it out to spectators along the route so they could make calls on my behalf—a story that even made the newspaper!