Elfstedentocht Part 2 by PSBHQ

In April 2013 we were approached by the organisers of the Explore the North festival in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. They asked if we would use some footage of the Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour), the world's biggest ice skating race, and write some songs around it. So we did. A transcript in English is below

www.explore-the-north.nl/

Watch the videos here:
Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o63qrV4iKTc
Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrPBTwwnpdc

Contains footage (C) Fries Film Archief. Used with kind permission. Written and produced by Public Service Broadcasting. Drums recorded by Gregor Reid at Fonica Studios, Glasgow.

Newspaper: Eleven Cities Tour on Friday
Newspaper: Eleven Cities Tour to be a superhuman effort
January 18th, 1963
An ice-skating marathon that is unparalleled
5.30 in the morning
300km through a Friesland only the strongest can cope with

Newspaper: Elfstedentocht: Tough, Tough, Tough

The starting signal is given for the Eleven Cities Tour
But what everyone is preparing themselves for..
That is the Elfstedentocht

The twelfth Eleven Cities Tour
Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius below zero
A brutal tour of more than 200km
But what everyone is preparing themselves for...

550 professional skaters
Around 9,500 leisure skaters
Skaters from Sweden, Canada, Switzerland and Belgium

But what everyone is preparing themselves for...
Sneek
IJlst
Sloten
Stavoren
Hindeloopen
Workum
Bolsward
Harlingen
Franeker
Dokkum
Leeuwarden

But what everyone is preparing themselves for...
That is the Elfstedentocht.