Evert van Benthem (born 21 November 1958) is a Dutch former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

who won the rarely raced

Elfstedentocht The ''Elfstedentocht'' (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: ''Alvestêdetocht'' , English language, English: ''Eleven cities tour'') is a long-distance tour skating event on natural ice, almost long, which is held both as a speed skating com ...

twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.

Early career

Van Benthem, a farmer from Leeuwte, near

Vollenhove Vollenhove is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, southwest of Steenwijk. Until the Noordoostpolder was drained, it was located on the coast of the Zuiderzee. Vollenhove received ci ...

in The Netherlands, became involved in marathon skating in the early 1980s. He started racing in the A-class in 1983, which involved longer races (100 km instead of 40 km), and finished third in the Dutch championship in 1985.

Elfstedentocht 1985

In 1985, it had been 22 years since the last

. The event is skated on natural ice in

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, at a distance of . On 21 February 1985, van Benthem won the 13th Elfstedentocht. Van Benthem entered the final stretch of the race into

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

together with Jan Kooiman, Jos Niesten and Henri Ruitenberg, all marathon speed skaters. Van Benthem won the sprint, completing the race in 6 hours 47 mins, an average of .

Elfstedentocht 1986

One year later, on 26 February 1986, the competition was held again. The leading pack near the end of the race included, Rein Jonker, Robert Kamperman and van Benthem. Van Benthem kept the lead and won again, with a time of 6 hours 55 mins 17 secs.

Elfstedentocht 1997

The next Elfstedentocht took place in 1997, after van Benthem's retirement. He still entered the event but without trying to win, drawing much public attention. His brother, Henk van Benthem, finished fourth in the race.

Emigration

In the summer of 1999 van Benthem and his family decided to move to Spruce View, Alberta, Canada. His farm in the Netherlands was located in a natural preservation area and thus could not expand. Moreover, Van Benthem said he had gotten tired of the attention. Van Benthem has a dairy farm in Spruce View, 320 hectares in size with 175 cows. An "Alternative Elfstedentocht" has been organized since 2003, but van Benthem's goal of having the Dutch top skaters regularly competing has not come to fruition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benthem, Evert van 1958 births Living people Dutch male speed skaters Dutch emigrants to Canada Sportspeople from Steenwijkerland Speed skaters from Overijssel 20th-century Dutch sportsmen