Volunteers are ready, hoses are rolled out and the frost seems to be in earnest. However, skating on natural ice in Drenthe on Christmas Day remains just out of reach for most rinks. But skating is already possible in Drouwenerveen today.
“The rink opened at 10 a.m. and you can skate until 3 p.m.,” says Marinus Hulshof of IJsvereniging Nooit Gedacht in Drouwenerveen. The volunteers worked hard last night to get the ice in order. “A lot of water was applied to the track last night to achieve the correct ice thickness.”
“It looks good and the temperature will remain low for the time being, so skating will also be possible tomorrow. Let’s hope that people can find us despite the Christmas troubles,” Hulshof says with a laugh.
Other ice skating associations look ahead to tomorrow with great hope. This also applies to Nieuw-Buinen, where the ice floor is simply not thick enough at the moment, according to Monique Wessels from the local ice club. “It’s not possible today. But next night it will freeze quite a bit, even in the evening it will be quite cold, so we have good hope that the track can open tomorrow.”