[Medical consequences of the 15th Eleven-Cities skating marathon].

The 15th Dutch Eleven Cities ice skating marathon was run on Saturday 4th January 1997. Numerous measures were taken to reduce the risk of accidents: active or standby were 7 hospitals, 3 helicopters for transport of casualties, 60 first-aid stations along the route, 600 first-aiders, 120 Red Cross workers, 50 GPs, 10 diving teams and a large police presence. A total of 150 ambulance rides were made and 151 skaters with 179 injuries were treated in the hospitals. The number of treatments administered in the first-aid stations was 2393 (14.3% of the total number of participants), including 829 cases of frostbite/hypothermia. Of the 16,387 participants of 1997, 11,523 (70.3%) finished.