Evert van Benthem

Van Benthem, a farmer from Leeuwte, near Vollenhove 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.[1]

In 1985, it had been 22 years since the last Elfstedentocht. The event is skated on natural ice in Friesland, at a distance of 196.8 kilometres (122.3 mi). On 21 February 1985, van Benthem won the 13th Elfstedentocht. Van Benthem entered the final stretch of the race into Leeuwarden 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 29.0 kilometres per hour (18.0 mph).

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.

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.[1] His brother, Henk van Benthem, finished fourth in the race.

In the summer of 1999 van Benthem and his family decided to move to Spruce View, Alberta, Canada.[2] 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.[1] 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.[1]