Monday, February 8, 2010

 Largest Naturally Frozen Ice Rink - Lipno lake sets world record   

 LIPNO LAKE, Czech Republic -- Lipno Lake in the southern Czech Republic has a naturally frozen ice rink stretching 10,9 kilometres long (6.83 miles) and six to eight metres (8,7 yards) wide - setting the new world record for the Largest Naturally Frozen Ice Rink .

Photo: Lipno Servis
 ( enlarge photo )

   "It's the world's Largest Naturally Frozen Ice Rink ," said local businessman Jan Stanek , who has taken over the task of maintaining the icy surfaces stretching an average 10 kilometres long (6.25 miles) and six to eight metres (yards) wide.

   The lengh of the Largest Naturally Frozen Ice Rink was measured last year when the ice stretched even longer than usual, reaching 10,922 metres or nearly 11 kilometers (6.8 miles), according to official Czech records .  

  Every day, one man skates over 50 kilometres, pushing a one-metre broad brush propelled by an engine. "But we have now bought another brush for another cleaner," Stanek said. Stanek also measures the thickness of the ice regularly, using a home-made device fashioned from a child's ski stick that is stuck into a hole drilled through the ice.

   A dam built on the Vltava river to generate hydro-electric power in the 1950s created the lake that holds pride of place in this once sleepy zone now a bustling tourist attraction drawing Dutch, German and Russian visitors.

    In summer, it is replete with swimmers, anglers and sailors. In winter, there are the skaters and the skiers.

 Lipno lake is frozen from December to March. s soon as the lake is frozen there is a track prepared in between Lipno and Frymburk, this track is one of Czech Republic's best ice-skating track, with a total length of 11 km. This track is like a highway of 6-8 m wide, for free.

  In Lipno nad Vltavou next to the ice-skating track there is Lipno Rent where ice-skates are for rent, 70 pairs for children, woman and men, also the maintaining, sharpening of the skates. On the track there is a snack bar which offers warm drinks and grilled specialties.

   Lipno's boom in the past two decades, which owes much to Dutch investors who fell in love with the area, saw record numbers last year with the rink attracting up to 70,000 skaters, according to Stanek. On weekends, up to 5,000 skaters show up daily. Maintenance -- financed by towns in the region -- requires a lot of elbow grease.

   On the 3rd of February 2009, certain individuals came on behalf of the Czech agency '' Dobry Den '' and the Czech media onto the ice-skating track to record the measurement in the Czech records. Eventually after the professional measurement of the track, the result was 10 992 m.

  The previous Guinness world record for the Largest Naturally Frozen Ice Rink was the 8.5-kilometre rink from Winnipeg in 2008; before that, the Guinness world record holder was Ottawa's Rideau Canal which registered in 2005 as the world's longest rink at 7.8 kilometres.

   Subscribe to our RSS feed to receive updates.


Related world records

Largest cappuccino-world record set in Prague

Largest gathering of wheelchair users on ice-world record set by PSI Network Leeds

Largest Santa Claus ice sculpture-world record set by Chinese sculptors

Longest human chain of ice skaters-world record set by Mexico City



Monday, February 8, 2010


View Site in Mobile | Classic
Share by: