Eleven Ancient Cities
Issue 2 / Tue 1st Nov, 2016
SUP 11-City Tour is perhaps the ultimate challenge for any paddle boarder, five days, 220km and eleven ancient cities. Add in the stunning Dutch countryside, good friends, great beer and a real feeling of Ohana, and you have a recipe for a fantastic event!
Imagine the ultimate stand up paddle challenge, visiting eleven ancient cities, covering 220 kilometres over five days, battling whatever the elements throw at you. Welcome to the SUP 11-City Tour!
Friesland is a province in the north-west of the Netherlands; it is home to eleven ancient cities linked by waterways. As early as 1760 there are tales of ice skaters in the winter attempting to visit the eleven cities in just one day, covering a distance of 200km! The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour) was born and by 1909 the first official event was organised and skaters raced around the province looking to set the fastest time.
Since then the race has grown, there are now some 300 contestants in the main race, and over 16,000 people complete it in a recreational fashion too. The only problem is that the race can only take place when the waterways freeze. The ice has to be a depth of 15cm before the contest can start and that depth must be consistent for the duration of the course.
Due to this rule, and the milder winters, the race in unpredictable, despite over 100 years of history, the race has only happened 15 times. The last time it took place was in 1997, in 2012 the race almost happened but the ice didn’t reach the required thickness in the south-west of the province.
Of course, all this talk of ice isn’t relevant to us, and that is the beauty of this article. The waterways that link the ancient cities are there all year round, and they don’t often freeze, what a perfect opportunity for some SUP action! Anne-Marie Reichman was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland, and like everyone from that part of the world she grew up with the history of the Elfstedentocht all around her.
Anne-Marie didn’t become a world-class skater though. Instead, she embraced a new passion for windsurfing, and by the age of 19, she was the Dutch National Champion. She started to travel the world with her gear, and by 2002 she had made it into the top three of the Professional Windsurfing Association world-ranking list.
Her love of windsurfing naturally led her to other watersports, an accomplished surfer she soon started to excel and enjoy SUP having been introduced to it on Maui. An idea began to form in Anne-Marie’s head, could this new sport be used to link up the eleven ancient cities of Friesland?
In 2008 she made her dream a reality and paddled the route of the Eleven City Tour on her SUP board. It took her 38 hours to complete the course and made a massive push on the sport of SUP in the Netherlands due to the media coverage she received. She didn’t do it alone and was joined by nine other athletes, in essence, the journey was a test to see whether she could create a proper event.
From those humble beginnings in 2008 the SUP 11-City Tour as it is now known has grown to 160 participants from over 27 different nations! The event keeps on growing each year, a testament to the camaraderie and “SUP 11-City Ohana” (Ohana means family in Hawaiian) that is created by the organisers and participants alike.
It’s a huge physical challenge; even the pros will be paddling for five and half hours each day, while regular competitors can expect to be paddling for over seven hours a day! The weather can be challenging too; the area is very flat, so if it’s windy and blowing in your face you are going to feel the burn. It can be cold, it can be hot, it can rain all week, and it can be rough on the waterways too so there are challenges at every turn.
The training you need to undertake is immense; this isn’t an event you can rock up to and take part in. To paddle for over seven hours a day for five days, you need to be exceedingly fit. Blisters on your hands are a common issue for the participants, even the ones that are fully prepared. It’s gruelling physically, but it is also exceedingly challenging mentally. You have to have the will to keep on pushing no matter what and to keep going right to the very end in Leeuwarden.
A phrase often heard at the finish line on the last day is “never again”, however, it is a testament to the challenge of the event that so many participants sign up right away as soon as the entries open for the next year!
If you are thinking of entering, be sure to prepare yourself thoroughly, MarijeElgersma who helps with the organisation and has taken part in the race suggests you need to paddle for 45km at least once before you even think about entering. Understanding just how far this distance is paramount to your success in completing the course. She also suggests that during each stage you think about the next turn or the next bridge, and not the remaining 35km ahead of you!
When you take part in the event, you instantly become part of the SUP 11-City Tour Ohana. It changes your life, you make new friends and share an unspoken understanding with all the other competitors who enter the event. Each day when you rest everyone sleeps on old Friesian style sailing boats. This “cosy” accommodation ensures everyone is entirely immersed in the event. The boats aren’t like a hotel; the rooms are small and filled with bunk beds. It’s more like a childhood camp with everyone exchanging stories, drinking a beer or two and nursing sore muscles!
There are some stunning sections along the way too; you’ll see windmills, wildlife and on day two experience the magic of “De Luts” a 7km tunnel of trees over the waterway! It’s these elements that make the event so successful, each year it grows, and each year the organisers listen to the athletes to tune the format and make it better.
This year a new Masters category was added for the over 40’s, it was hugely popular, so much so that for 2017 they have added a Diva’s category for women over 40.
Krista van Beek who won the tour this year for the ladies had this to say about the event: “After having two kids I told myself I had to do it! I’ve already done the Eleven Cities by bike and rowing; SUP seemed like the next challenge. I didn’t expect to win and to be so far ahead. Although I was on my own for a lot of the paddling, I enjoyed it, and the weather was fantastic this year!”
Ruben Salvador who comes all the way from Spain to compete has been doing the event for a few years, each year he says is different. The weather plays a huge role in that. “If somebody asks me what is the biggest challenge in SUP I always tell them it is this event. Every year people ask me if I will come back, no way I say. Then a month or so after the event they ask me again, and I ask if the entries are open yet! Of course, I will be back, again and again, and again."
No matter who you speak to about the event, the answers are always the same. The competitors love it, the Ohana, the scenery, the challenge, the physical nature, it’s an incredible experience. With the right training, it is achievable for anyone who fancies having a go. You can also do a warm up and just complete single legs of the tour if you don’t fancy the full five-day challenge. However almost everyone who does one leg enjoys it so much they quickly sign up for the full tour next year!
Check out the SUP 11-City Tour website for more information.
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By Ydwer Van Der Heide
