Apr 13: Elfstedentocht

Public Service Broadcasting have appeared elsewhere on the blog as they have a range of songs with a geographical angle to them.

The Elfstedentocht is an ice-skating race which takes place in the Netherlands.

It is only possible in the harshest of winters, and cannot take place every year. This is similar to the Fenland skating which can only take place on flooded fields in the Fens when conditions permit, and has become less common as winters are warming.

This race is fairly brutal and a long distance classic - comparable to some of the one day classics in road race cycling such as Paris-Roubaix.

Here's a map of the route - joining up eleven towns.

And here's a video of the two parts of the track by Public Service Broadcasting.

Part 1

Part 2

Contains footage (C) Fries Film Archief. Used with kind permission. 

Written and produced by Public Service Broadcasting. 

Drums recorded by Gregor Reid at Fonica Studios, Glasgow.

And the translation of the voice over on the track.

Newspaper: 

Eleven Cities Tour on Friday 

Newspaper: 

Eleven Cities Tour to be a superhuman effort 

January 18th, 1963 

An ice-skating marathon that is unparalleled 

5.30 in the morning 300km through a Friesland only the strongest can cope with 

Newspaper: 

Elfstedentocht: Tough, Tough, Tough 

The starting signal is given for the Eleven Cities Tour 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for.

That is the Elfstedentocht 

The twelfth Eleven Cities Tour 

Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius below zero 

A brutal tour of more than 200km 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... 

550 professional skaters 

Around 9,500 leisure skaters 

Skaters from Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... 

Sneek. IJlst. Sloten. Stavoren. Hindeloopen. Workum. Bolsward. Harlingen. Franeker. Dokkum. Leeuwarden. 

But what everyone is preparing themselves for... That is the Elfstedentocht." 

J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth sample old public information films and archive material and set them to new music. Live, the films are screened simultaneously as laptops are fiddled with, drums are pounded, theremins are wafted at, guitars are bashed and banjos furiously plucked. 

Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future.