The Eleven City Tour is on!

The title of this blog is one of the most appreciated, but rare slogans in the Netherlands. When it is used, usually by radio or television, it means that it has frozen in the Netherlands; not just a little for a short time, but really hard and for a long time. The slogan announces the Eleven City Tour, one of the most heroic skating events. The winner receives a medal of 8 grams of alloy and eternal fame.

Professional skaters and amateurs skate for 200 kilometres and have to collect stamps on the road to their much-sought-after medal. The Eleven City Tour is a nostalgic event. The last one was held in the last century, in 1997; as a compensation a similar tour is being organised abroad in Finland or Austria.

Despite the global warming the Eleven City Tour is on again, but now in cross media. The history of this heroic tour will be on radio, television and internet. The launch on December 22, 2006 started with a visualised radio documentary Fata Morgana in a Snow Desert. The movie theatre reports and television broadcasts since 1929 have been brought online; the ones of 1933 and 1942 still have to be brought online.

The project is a cultural heritage project of the Eleven City Tour association, the Skating museum, the skating sports association, , the institute of Image and Sound, produced by the national broadcast companies NPS and VPRO. The project intends to show what has been preserved, but it also aims at user generated content such as photographs and movies.

Memories from participants can be recorded in sound, image or text. Presently the following assets are or become available:
· An interactive Eleven City Tour website (from 22 December 2006 onwards;
· A wiki;
· A quiz on the history website (3 January, 2007);
· A theme week on the History internet channel (24 February till 2 March, 2007);
· The radio documentary Fata Morgana in a Snow Desert (25 February 2007);
· A one and a half hour television broadcast (25 February 2007)
· Newsletter;
· A Participant’s card.

Pinning the culmination of the project on the week of 24 February till 2 March, 2007 is almost tempting fate, as the Eleven City Tour needs harsh winter weather. Happily enough, you can now stay inside with the cross media Eleven tour city and look at the most heroic tour won by Mr Reinier Paping on 18 January 1963. I was in boarding school at that time and a black and white television set was brought in for 150 pupils. This year colour images will be broadcasted for the first time.

BTW Speaking of a harsh winter: no white Christmas for The Netherlands this year.

Tags: heritage

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Blog Posting Number: 614