Finland Ice Marathon Feb 23-27, 2000, Kuopio

It was on the edge ....!

The day before:
20:00 friday, riders meeting in the Scandic Hotel in Kuopio Finland. The weather report of the Local Airport said it would be -12 a -14 Celsius at the start the next morning at 7, with rising temperatures too about -4 at noon.

Well that was about the same or better as that day (friday) so we all thought, well it will be a cold race but not worse that today that training day we used to test our clothes and the ice.

Early morning saturday: nobody told us the real temperature, so we all thought it still was about -14. There was no official "announcement" that said "watch out it is -20 Celsius", the real temperature. It seams stupid not to know how cold it was, but you can't feel the difference very well, the air is very dry and there was hardly any wind. It didn't crossed my mind that it could be colder than the day before.

Then the start with an official countdown from 10 to zero. Every body started very easy, to make sure that every crack in the ice will be spotted before hitting it with the skates.

The problem with extreme cold it that the ice shrinks and that very small "hair cracks" appear in the ice. Those were our main opponent. You can't see them and when you hit them you fall, or your skates get all wrinkled up in them and may bend. Lot's of skates with curves. Some use a piece of wood with a slit/incision in it to bend the skate back while skating. Or hope that the next crack will be a lucky one an bend it back. Some stop a put the skates in a crack and try to bend them back. One team (Bional/Big-Boss) had special skates made with a very "low" blade. Normally the blade is about 1,5 cm high, they had that cut in half. (I don't know the exact dimensions) also the blades where ticker about 0.2 mm more that normal (1.0 mm is normal).

I my self skated on the carved skates of Raps, with a new frame made of a new stronger aluminum alloy, what makes the skates lighter. Those skates give a lot of back steering if you put pressure on the skates, even more than with the "normal" carved skates.

It the first lap my feet got a little cold, and my upper lip got cold. So when I got a bidon with a warm sport drink I used it to warm my upper lip from the inside. That worked very well I did felt my lip was oke but I didn't felt my feet very well, but since it was suppossed to get warmer I did even crossed my mind that there could be problems. In that first kilometers I was skating very painlessly, and could make very long strong strokes. I did what most did, skating as less as possible on front and making sure you didn't lost contact with the first skaters.

I did fell 2 times, both on bad moments. The pack was chasing a breakaway group both times. So I had to use a lot of power to get back both times, but I made it back "easy" both times. Using the trick you see with cycling racing: Use the chase car. I used it to get upto speed side by side with the car (you can't skate behind them because they are on a snow track along side the ice track). But ofcource you have to do the main part yourself because they don't help you that and long/much. I said to Jan-Maarten I used a lot of powers getting back, we were skating both on the front of the pack at that time, making a slight turn to the right, Jan Maarten made a cross-over to the right, (He trains that sometimes) what was shown on TV, but I'm curious how many noticed it was a cross-over the "wrong" way.

One time I was in a breakaway group more or less by mistake with Arjan Schreuder and one of the Bional team (can't remember which one) with a maximum lead of about 30 seconds. But I decided not to skate on front, my fast team-mate (Jan Maarten Heideman) was behind me and I didn't feel like skating 10s of kilometers in a small group making sure you will be very tired very fast. The main pack joined us soon.

After about 70 KM I got my left skate in a crack, I didn't fell, but when I skated on the "feeling" was gone. I thought maybe it's my muscles that are cramping or maybe I have a big "braam" on my skate. My skates of Raps are known for that they don't bend easily, So that was something I couldn't believe.

I had problems, I couldn't accelerate any more, so I lost 100 meter on the pack. But when I was ready to give up, there was a Dasia skater coming from behind me, he called to me and I thought lets try it once more. So I made speed again and followed him, I took over the lead and helped to close the gap. After 75 KM there was a crossing of the finish line (25 KM laps) and the team entourage gives food and drink there. So we where lucky and could get back, because the pack loses speed there.

I "caught" a bag with a fresh drink, and shouted "I have a blunt skate". On the same moment after the food and drink ("verzorging"), the pack accelerated again. I couldn't follow again. So I was again ready to give up, but than one of the chase cars "honked" and came beside me, catching a lot of wind. I made speed again and I was lucky again to get back to the pack. About 7 KM later we where close to the finish line again because we were skating 3 loops on the lake. I was getting tired, because the bad technique I had to use because of my skates. When the pack 2 km later accelerated away again, it was the final call for me and I gave up, and skated the 2 km back to the finish line. I gave my skates a look of course and saw they where bended, with a nice curve in the front of the left skate.

I returned to the hotel quick because it was cold, and there I noticed I had my right "big"-toe frozen a little. I couldn't move it very well, but I had feeling in it so that was oke. Also I had in my face some red places where the skin was frozen a bit. My face was covered with a layer of "Vitalis" (a special cream for keeping you warm in extreme conditions) during the race, but it was still frozen a bit.

But I was oke, no long term problems. When my team mates returned they all had places on their face frozen. Even Henri Ruitenberg who skated "only" 25 kilometer.

I heard there for the first time I was -20 at the start (Add the feeling temperature when you go 30 to 40 kilometer an hour!!!). Ruud Borst (Bional) had won and teammate Jan Maarten was 4th but that was not the real story of the day.

I felt lucky my skate prevented me from skating on, even more when I heard the problems of Arnold Gaasenbeek (team Thyssen). He finished the race 13th, but afterwards he was rushed to the hospital with frozen toes and front feet. He stayed at least one night at the hospital, and still has problems with his "smallest 3 toes". He will go back to Holland by car or ambulance and has to wait how he recovers. But that's secondhand information so I don't know the details exact.

Almost every skater had "burn" places in his face (burning is the seem as freezing for the skin). And 2 had the stomach skin frozen, ears with blisters where spotted (a skater without a bivak-muts (balaclava?) ) and toes that where "a bit black".

So this was a race to never forget and to learn from, I was lucky to have good enough clothes and to have an early exit in this race to prevent real damage, but it was on the edge!

Jan van Oosterom

Published with permission