Aart Koopmans (12 October 1946 – 15 January 2007) was a Dutch business man, president of the Dutch winter

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

marathon organisation and founder of the Alternative Elfstedentocht. His father, Bram Koopmans was the organiser for the

Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classic ...

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

for many years. Koopmans, born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, organised his first Alternative Elfstedentocht in 1975 in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

due to the winters in the Netherlands being too warm to skate 200 km in open air on ice. In later years, the Alternative Elfstedentochten were organised in various countries like

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

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Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 2007 the first Alternative Elfstedentocht in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

will be held. The Austrian editions became the most popular through the years as thousands of Dutch people travel to the Weissensee each year to compete each other in several speed skating marathons in various distances, with the 200 km Open Dutch National Championships being the main and most prestigious event. Until 2006 this gave the local authorities a profit of 36 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s. As a result, Koopmans and co-organiser Leo van Hees (who died in 2002) were awarded with the Austrian Cross of Honour. Since 2006 he resided in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He was scheduled to retire from his position as Alternative Elfstedentocht organiser in 2011, but was taken to a

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon, Porto Metropolitan Area, Porto, and Bra ...

hospital in November 2006. He suffered from bacterial infections and

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, which resulted in his death on 15 January 2007. The already scheduled Alternative Elfstedentocht of 2007 and the other scheduled races in the same period will go through, but in memorial of Aart Koopmans.

References

Weissensee.nl report on his deathVolkskrant report on his death

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koopmans, Aart 1946 births 2007 deaths Speed skating 2007 in speed skating Businesspeople from Amsterdam Deaths from pneumonia in Portugal 20th-century Dutch businesspeople