In addition the following safety equipment is often recommended: Knee and elbow pads and a helmet are also commonly used.

Light snow does not necessarily prevent skating and in some places tracks are ploughed to keep them open.

Founded by Jamie Hess and a number of others, the organization was initially called, "North American Marathon Skating Association".

Skridskonätet also maintains a list of tour skating clubs[10] in mainly Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands.

In Canada, outdoor skating on natural frozen lake and ponds is common but not as a method of travel or tourism, rather people skate in a circular route around the lake, or create an improvised ice hockey rink for a game of "shinny", ringette, or broomball.

However, starting in 1971, the section of the Rideau Canal that runs through the centre of Ottawa, the national capital, has been used as a skating corridor.

Starting in the 1990s The Forks area of Winnipeg, where two rivers join, has also been used as a skating trail, and by 2008 was longer than the Rideau skateway (though much narrower).

Due to natural variations in ice conditions, the Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail, as it is officially called varies in length each year.

Similar plans to turn Montreal's Lachine Canal into a skating venue have been discussed since 2000, but were still awaiting the needed funding in 2012.

[13] In Joliette, Quebec, two parallel skating tracks, of 4 km each, on the L'Assomption River are linked to form a loop running through the center of the town.

[15] Long distance skating on lakes and rivers in eastern Canada and north-eastern US was more common in the years between 1850 and 1900.

[16] Some of the skaters from the Saint John River area became world class speed skating champions, notably Hugh J. McCormick.