Friday, June 21, 2019, 5:30 pm. Maarten van der Weijden jumps into water in Leeuwarden. With a steadyborstcrawl(front crawl), he makes it in the evening to Sneek, the first stop of the eleven cities he is going to get to. Wait, eleven cities? What was this guy up to? Let’s find out.

Swimming theElfstedentocht

The Dutch cherish their belovedElfstedentocht. It is an historicschaatstocht(ice skating tour) that started in 1909. Running almost 200 kilometers (124 miles) oversloten(creeks),rivieren(rivers),meren(lakes) andkanalen(channels) throughelf(eleven)steden(cities) in the province ofFriesland, it has turned into a real pride for theFriezen(Frisians). However, theElfstedentochtis difficult to organise. The ice needs to be thick enough along the entire route. And because there are hundreds of participants, it needs to be quite thick – at least 15 centimeters (6 inches)!

At each of theelf steden,schaatsers(ice skaters) receive astempel(stamp) as evidence that they skated past thisstad(city).

Unfortunately, temperatures have risen in recent decades, and that required thickness has not been reached since 1997. But every winter, when freezing temperatures are forecast, the Dutch cross their fingers.

Back to Maarten van der Weijden. He is…swimmingthis? Finishing these 200 kilometers in other ways thanschaatsenis nothing new – check the spinoffs below for more on that. But the way he got through thisElfstedenzwemtocht(Eleven Cities Swimming Tour) is ratherindrukwekkend(impressive). He finished on Monday, shortly after 7:30 pm. Swimming 70 hours with only a few short breaks and nights of 3 hours of sleep is an achievement that has not been done like this before. The former Olympic swimmer is doing pioneer’s work here.

Voor 11 Goede Doelen

Van der Weijden swam this insane tour to collect money forkankeronderzoek(cancer research). He had leukemia himself when he was a young adult, after already having been a successful swimmer. He then made it his mission to prove that even after that, he could still be atopsporter(运动员)。2008年,Maarten证明通过winning the gold medal at theOlympische Spelenin Peking for the 10k open water.

However, this did not stop his ambition to fightkanker(cancer). And so in 2018, he tried the firstElfstedenzwemtocht. However, the attempt failed after about 165 kilometers, because he did not get enough rest. He now rested more, and a bit longer every night. He felt much better this year. It was a moreplezierige ervaring(enjoyable experience) than last year, he said.

Is he going to do it again? “Ik denk dat dit het wel was”(I think that this was it), he says in the interview above. However, it looks likesomebody else is going to attempt it next year.

But last year and this year, theMaarten van de Weijden Foundation collected money for 11 projects to fightkanker. This goes into the millions – last year it was 5 million euros. That amount may be surpassed this year!

Do you want to contribute?You can still donate now at this link!

Other spinoffs

The idea to do theElfstedentochtwith a different means of transportation than a pair ofschaatsen(skates) is nothing new. Since 1946, theElfstedenwandeltocht(Eleven Cities Hiking Tour) has been organised annually. Even before that, since 1912,fietsers(cyclists) have picked up their bikes to ride the 200km in theFietselfstedentocht(Cycling Eleven Cities Tour). In the 1980s, theElfstedenroeimarathon(Eleven Cities Rowing Marathon) and theStepelfstedentocht(Scooter Eleven Cities Tour) were added. Since 2009, stand-up paddlers, or short SUP, hold the Supelfstedentocht(SUP Eleven Cities Tour).

Gefeliciteerdmet deze geweldige prestatie!(Congratulations to this amazing achievement!)

What do you think of theElfstedentocht? Have you, or would you like to participate in it, or in one of its spinoffs? Let me know in the comments below!