A 26-year old Frenchman, Cédric Michaud, won the annual Greenery Six sprout skating event that reached an exciting climax last weekend.

Michaud, who was no doubt brought up to revere the yellow jersey handed out to the winner of stages in the Tour de France, was the proud model of the event's very own sprout jersey, as our picture shows.

The competition, held at this time each year, has established itself as a well-respected date in the Dutch professional marathon skating calendar and has been sponsored by The Greenery for the past five years.

The involvement of the Dutch produce giant emanated through its erstwhile sprout grower Henk Angenent, who won the last 'Elf Steden Tocht' (Eleven City Tour) in 1997 – a huge and prestigious outdoor skating event that can only take place when the ice is thick enough to support the huge number of skaters involved.

He was thereafter sponsored by The Greenery under the sprout banner and this led to the creation of The Greenery Six, so called because it takes place on six successive days in six Dutch towns – through Assen, Heerenveen, Breda, Alkmaar and The Hague to the final in Utrecht.

The winner of each stage wears the sprout suit which, the Journal is reliably informed, is equally as hotly contested as its yellow cycling counterpart.

The Greenery hopes to improve the image of sprouts through this sponsorship, and this year's competition has coincided with a PR and advertising campaign in Holland to overcome negative consumer perceptions of sprouts.

More than 2,300 guests of The Greenery attended the stages, and ate over 1,000kg of sprouts in dishes such as sprout soup, sprout and potato gratin, stir-fried sprout noodles and even sprout ice cream.

Topics