Just under forty minutes away, just across the Drents-Groningse border in Noordlaren, they are still holding back. “It is still quiet with us, but we are in the starting position,” says Jan Geert Veldman of IJsvereniging De Hondsrug. “It is now above 0 here. I have yet to see it, because it will thaw again on Thursday.”
Still, they will do everything they can in the coming days. In Noordlaren they also go out at night when there is enough frost to spray water on the track. “Last year we applied three centimeters of ice in one night. Sometimes you just have to be lucky.”
Last year, Noordlaren organized the first marathon on natural ice on Boxing Day. “That was very unexpected at the time. Let’s hope it works again this year.”
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