Ice on the sea near Luleå (Sweden), news about the Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour

There is sea ice again on the Gulf of Bothnia near the city of Luleå in Sweden. On 19 February 2021 an Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour for tour riders, recreational skaters, is being organised here. There is news.

• Because of corona the scheduled tours on the Austrian Weissensee have been cancelled. The same goes too for the planned tours on the Swedish Lake Runn.
• Which makes the organised alternatives to the 11-City Tour look almost exhausted. Happily there is still a unique tour after all, on sea ice at Luleå (Swedish Lapland).

The tour is going ahead as planned (for now)

We interviewed Skating Luleå about where things stand. “At the moment the tour on 19 February is going ahead as planned”, says Bram Smallenbroek.

“That can change”, the tournament director says. “Of course the tour can be cancelled in certain circumstances relating to COVID-19 .”

Smallenbroek goes on: “You can get your money back from us until 1 February in any case, so booking is no problem.”

Meanwhile there is a fine sheet of ice. The organisation shared the proof on Facebook through guide Ariginal Adventures. “Live from Luleå.”

Photo: Ariginal Adventures

The length of the circuit

We also asked the former top skater about the circuit, as 7 kilometres is a striking distance.

• So how do you then skate tours of 10, 30, 60, 100 and 200 kilometres, the Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour? Those do not divide neatly.

“The circuit comes to roughly 7 kilometres”, Smallenbroek confirms. “On top of that we can add a small lap on the end.”

That way tour riders can complete the distance they want. “100 kilometres is 14 big laps and 1 small one of 3.6 kilometres, for instance. In that case you will have skated 101.6 kilometres.”

Everything remains subject to change. “It depends on our final circuit”, the organisation concludes.

Perhaps an extra tour on 26 February

In recent years skating enthusiasts have been spoilt with whole skating weeks and several tours in various countries.

Now it looks as though there will be just one to begin with. But Smallenbroek leaves himself some room. “There may still be shifts in the marathon calendar. In that case we might organise another tour on 26 February.”

A skating holiday and skating an Alternative Dutch 11-City Tour twice in Swedish Lapland, who knows…