Today’s word of the day, thanks to Word Guru, is torpid. Torpid is an adjective that means “inactive or sluggish; slow; dull; apathetic; lethargic” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/torpid). But when it first entered the language in the 1610s, it meant “benumbed, without feeling or power” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=torpid). Etymonline says that the “Figurative sense of ‘sluggish, dull, apathetic’ is from 1650s.” It also tells us that the word came into the language “from Latin torpidus ‘benumbed, stupefied,’ from torpere ‘be numb or stiff’ (from PIE root *ster- (1) ‘stiff’).” So we have another instance of broadening, in this case going from a purely physical sense to something more psychological.

According to On This Day, on this date in 1985, “Evert van Benthem wins his 13th Elfstedentocht, a long distance 11 city skating race” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/february/21). I’m pretty sure that that is not accurate. I think van Benthem won only two Elfstedentocht, but that is quite a feat given that only one other person in history ever won two Elfstedentochts, and I’m pretty sure he set the record for completing the race in the fastest time in history.

But what is the Elfstedentocht?

The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour) is a skating race on natural ice in the northern part of the Netherlands, that part called Friesland. Unlike most races, it is not held annually, and for a very good reason.

“The Royal ‘Vereniging De Friesche Elf Steden’ [The Association of the Frisian Eleven Cities], established on the 15th of January 1909, organises the Eleven cities skating tour once a year, weather permitting.The last tour took place on the 4^th of January 1997” (https://www.elfstedentocht.frl/en/). The tour follows a circular route that begins and ends at the city of Leeuwarden, passing through ten other cities, although some of them are so small that we would probably called them towns or even villages. It runs along canals, and as a result, there is always danger that the ice won’t be thick enough because, while a small number of skaters compete, as many as 15,000 skaters (actually, they don’t have to skate; they can use other means of transport) will also participate. If the ice isn’t at least 15cm think, it could become a problem.

Sometimes there are “points along the route where the ice is too thin to allow mass skating; they are called ‘kluning points’ (from West Frisian klúnje meaning to run on skates over a carpet), and the skaters walk on their skates to the next stretch of good ice” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht). There have been many years when there was no tour at all, including the last 26. In 2012, there were 10 days of subfreezing temperatures, but despite great anticipation, the race was at last called off. It just didn’t stay cold enough for long enough.

According to the wiki, “The Elfstedentocht of 1963 became known as ‘The hell of ’63’ when only 69 of the 10,000 participants were able to finish the race, due to the extremely low temperatures of -18 C (0°F), powder snow and a harsh eastern wind. Conditions were so horrendous that the 1963 winner, Reinier Paping, became a national hero, and the tour itself legendary. Paping could not make out the finishing line as he was snow blind by the end of the race, and many of the contestants had frostbite, broken limbs, and damaged eyes” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht).

Evert van Benthem was a marathon skater and a farmer in The Netherlands. He began marathon skating in the early 1980s, and won the Elfstedentocht in his first opportunity in 1985. Then he won it again in 1986, though the time was a little slower. The race was not held again until 1997, and by that time van Benthem had retired from marathon racing. Nevertheless, he entered, though he indicated that he was not going to try win the race. His brother, however, finished fourth. Then, two years later, van Benthem moved to Alberta, Canada, so that he could have a bigger farm, and he lives there now with his family, running a dairy farm.

I would imagine that Evert van Benthem was never torpid, whether skating a marathon or running a dairy farm. Personally, I would love to see the Elfstedentocht, though I cannot skate so could not participate.

Today’s image is from the 1985 Elfstedentocht, with Evert van Benthem winning the race (http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ad43615a-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84).