Fun key to success
Both Stoltenborg and Snoek, who won the Alternative Elfstedentocht Weissensee at the beginning of this year, belong to the elite of the skating world. To be part of this, you need a top sports mentality and the willingness to make sacrifices.
Yet the key to their success is fun. “Ultimately, skating is a very beautiful sport,” says Tessa with infectious enthusiasm. “I think it’s so beautiful that if your head is full, it immediately disappears when I’m on the skates.”
Mats especially enjoys the better cornering. “I get the biggest kick when I go through the bends at speed,” smiles the born Hoofddorp resident. “Especially when you are riding in a peloton and have to drive around a one hundred and eighty degree bend at fifty kilometers per hour. That makes it nice.”