I tried looking for a source but couldn't find it: I read years ago that a survey with the question "Would you rather have an elfstedentocht or win the World Cup" was answered predominantly with the former. I've used that as an example of how important this event is for the Dutch when explaining it to my foreign friends. I'll keep looking for a source, but no doubt the elfstedentocht is one of the most important events in Dutch culture regardless.
That is very surprising to me. I wonder if that would still hold today, where everyone under 24 and a good deal of people a couple years older than that have never consciously experienced an Elfstedentocht. I mean, it'd be nice, but... Winning the World Cup, as arguably the foremost nation that has never done so before, we'd certainly go crazy.
