Tour of 1909
22 participants started with only the light of a lantern.
With the words “Now then, gentlemen, have a good trip,” the first official Elfstedentocht began precisely at 5.20 a.m. In his introductory speech, the Frisian Ice Union president Hijlkema stated that the Elfstedentocht was a test of endurance, not a race. He also expressed the hope that the Elfstedentocht would grow into a historic event.
The race
The participants began their journey into the darkness, using a carbide lantern on a stick for light. All participants wore long tricolour ribbons in the national colours. The route started towards Dokkum. On the dark journey over the Dokkummer Ee, many obstacles in the ice had to be overcome. As they travelled from Leeuwarden to Franeker, daylight began to break through. Spectators along the route wondered if it was responsible to skate nearly 200 kilometres in rain and thaw. After Franeker, the ice had turned to “fondant” (comparable with crushed ice). Some participants are even known to have walked almost the entire distance from Franeker to Harlingen to Bolsward. Fortunately, after Bolsward, the ice layer was much harder. In Sneek, Minne Hoekstra and Gerlof van der Leij received a telegram from Stavoren, informing them that they had built a 25-minute lead, but with some extra rest time, Lieutenant T. Rooseboom quickly caught up.
A discussion about the final race developed between the three men. Ideas such as a lottery or an intermediate sprint race were rejected. So, it became a race to the Leeuwarden checkpoint. After a fall, Hoekstra accelerated the pace, and the other two dropped out. Hoekstra arrived at Hotel Amicitia at 7:10 p.m., carried by the crowd, as the winner. The newspapers and weekly magazines paid much attention to this first Elfstedentocht compared to other sports. The papers De Telegraaf, De Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant, and Het Algemeen Handelsblad even sent special reporters who skated parts of the route. The earlier sceptics were very enthusiastic after this first Elfstedentocht, and politics saw it as an opportunity to put Friesland on the map. There was hope for another race with ideas to professionalise it for a larger group of skaters.
