Koopmans, born in Amsterdam (the most populous city of the Netherland), organised his first Alternative Elfstedentocht in 1975 in Finland; then later, the Alternative Elfstedentochten were organised in various countries.
Koopmans, born in Amsterdam, organised his first Alternative Elfstedentocht in 1975 in Finland due to the winters in the Netherlands being too warm to skate 200 km in open air on ice. In later years, the Alternative Elfstedentochten were organised in various countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Japan. Amsterdam (/mstrdm/, UK also /mstrdm/; Dutch: [mstrdm (listen)) is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands with a population of 872,680 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban area and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area. 
