The history of the Dutch and their affiliation with ice-skating goes back to the Middle Ages and even earlier. The first ice-skates were made from cow shanks or cow ribs through which holes had been hand-drilled to tie them to the feet. The next form of the skate was a wooden block with a metal strip. This eventually evolved into the curled wooden skate with steel blades which appeared before 1600. 
This was the last step to the combination shoe and skate as we know it today. The skates were first used as a mode of transportation. The roads were bad and often impassable in the wet winter season. When there was ice it was a good time for relatives and friends to visit one another across the frozen waters. 
In the Middle Ages it was custom for the lord of the castle to attract skaters to compete in various activities during the ice period. What was once a mode of transportation soon became a sport as rules were created among the men to see who could get home quicker from a certain place. This started the competition sport in the oldest form of speed-skating. The first skating association was set up in 1840 in Dokkum, Friesland. 

Elfstedentocht
Dokkum takes us to the "Eleven Towns Race", or Elfstedentocht, held in Friesland, one of the most northern provinces in Holland. This ice-skating marathon has taken place only several times in the past 82 years, the last one in 1997, due to ice and weather conditions. 
The race goes through 11 towns, covering 125 miles, starting at the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden down to Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum, and back to Leeuwarden. 

The Elfstedentocht started during the severest winter of the 19th century, in 1890. It was then that a Dutch sports journalist, Pim Mullier, decided to skate the 11 Frisian towns in one day. He succeeded in 12 hours and 55 minutes. To prove that he had not missed any towns, Mullier made random visits to houses where he had the owners place a signature and the time of the day in a small red notebook. In 1908, the society "De Friesche Elfstedentocht" (The Frisian Eleven towns race) was founded. They organized their first official race in 1912. 
The race starts between 5a.m. and 6a.m. in the Friesland Hall in Leeuwarden. There they wait for the starting signal underneath the heating lamps. As they take off, the skaters are confronted with the winter darkness. Some farmers drive out in their tractors and use the headlights to light up the canals. As the skaters progress from one town to the next, their noses and hair turn to ice. Stands offering hot chocolate and Dutch "snert", pea soup, are located along the route. The skaters are followed closely all day by the radio and television. 

At every town the skaters have to get their cards stamped at the control point, indicating the time they passed through. Many spectators (about 600,000) show up to shout words of encouragement. The last 30 miles of the race are the most grueling as the skaters are confronted with the cutting northeastern winds between Harlingen and Dokkum. During the race, strong bonds between the skaters are formed as they help one another along, although many never finish. 
In 1956 this bond had grown so strong that the five skaters in the leading group simultaneously crossed the finish line. The committee declared the sixth the winner. The winner is awarded a gold medal. In 1947 less then 10 percent of the contestants reached the finish point. 
A non-competitive tour was introduced whereby the participants do not race against the clock but try to reach the finish point. They have, however, to reach it before midnight of the day they started. 
Each year the participants start preparing for the big event in the hopes that the winter will be a strong one. For Holland this has developed some of the world's best long distance and speed skaters. The last two races in Holland were held in 1986 and 1997. About 16,000 ice-skaters participated in each race. In 1986 crown prince Willem Alexander partook in the race and his mother Queen Beatrix was there to welcome him at the finish. Alternative Eleven Towns Races by boat and bicycle take place every summer.