 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.In 2007 the first Alternative Elfstedentocht in Mongolia will be held.