Help with definition of English Tour Skating
Congratulations to Krister on the good Wikipedia article
"Långfärdsskridsoåkning"
There is even a bigger problem on the definition of this in English,
since almost nobody has ever heard of it. What should we call this "Long
distance Skating on natural ice"? The most common names are "Nordic
Skating" and "Tour Skating". The SSSK and many other English language
sources in Sweden and Finland call it "Tour Skating". "Nordic Skating"
is mostly a North American name, but I use both names.
Until January 12, the English language Wikipedia article was called
"Tour skating" with "Nordic skating" as a synonym (REDIRECT). The
article was mainly written by a British person (StevenH) living in
Sweden, and several other people, mostly in Sweden, added some more.
But someone from Finland objected to the name "Tour Skating"!
He says that "Tour skating" should only mean the Netherlands style,
"Toerschaatsen", and he deleted all of the content referring to
the Swedish style!
The current version is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_skating
The old (Jan 12 2009) version is archived at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tour_skating&oldid=263559557
The only reference he uses is in Finnish, which I can't read. I think
Krister can read Finnish. What is "Matkaluistelu"? Is it more common in
Finland than "Retkiluistelu"?
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matkaluistelu
I think that "Tour skating" should be the name of the English
article, with a short explanation of the difference in styles.
Many WEB sites refer to the "Tour skating" wikipedia name.
I have read RobM's brief explanation of the difference between
"Toerschaatsen" and Swedish style at:
https://dev.utsidan.se/forum/posts/403892/
and also read these sources:
http://www.schaatsenmuseum.nl/museum-e/e-disc-toer-1.htm
http://www.schaats-en-skate.nl/icestory.htm
I have made a test version to "Tour Skating",
bringing back the deleted sections and adding a brief
explanation of the difference in styles. The test version is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ddermott/skating
Here is the introduction :
Tour skating is a recreational form of long distance ice skating on
natural ice. The Nordic style of Tour skating, often called Nordic
Skating or Trip skating, is popular in the Nordic Countries, especially
Sweden, but increasingly in Finland and Norway. Another style of Tour
Skating, called Toerschaatsen, is very popular in the Netherlands,
although the climate limits the availability of natural ice. The
Netherlands is also the home of Elfstedentocht, a 200 km distance
skating race. Long distance races are also organized annually in the
Nordic countries, such as Vikingarännet in Sweden.
And here is an added section:
Toerschaatsen: Tour Skating in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the style of Tour skating is called Toerschaatsen
where skaters follow marked routes, which are coordinated by the Royal
Netherlands Skating Union, KNSB. ^[1] ^[2] The skaters mostly use common
speed skates, with blades rigidly attached to the skating shoes.
Ice-poles and other safety equipment are normally not carried.
Skate tracks on natural ice are taken care by the towns and
communities, which take care of the safety of the tracks. Safety
matters should be always taken seriously when skating on the natural
ice.
What do you think?
MVH, David Dermott, Nova Scotia, Canada