Evert van Benthem

Evert van Benthem (born 21 November 1958) is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.

Early career Van Benthem, a farmer from Leeuwte, near Vollenhove in The Netherlands, became involved in marathon skating in the early 1980s. He started racing in the A-class in 1983, which involved longer races (100 km instead of 40 km), and finished third in the Dutch championship in 1985. His brother, Henk van Benthem, finished fourth in the race.

Emigration In the summer of 1999 van Benthem and his family decided to move to Spruce View, Alberta, Canada. His farm in the Netherlands was located in a natural preservation area and thus could not expand. Moreover, Van Benthem said he had gotten tired of the attention. Van Benthem has a dairy farm in Spruce View, 320 hectares in size with 175 cows. An "Alternative Elfstedentocht" has been organized since 2003, but van Benthem's goal of having the Dutch top skaters regularly competing has not come to fruition.