A championship without the 10000 m is like:
[mine:]
A bird without wings
A fish without fins
An egg without a yolk
A rose without flowers
A rose without thorns
A poem without words

[Kees de Vroege:]
Sex without foreplay

[Dirk Broer:]
Foreplay without sex

[Caroline van Staaveren:]
Skating without skates

[Irene Postma:]
A joke without a clue
A newspaper article on the cover ending in 'to be continued on page...'
(and that page is nowhere to be found)
A video of Miss Marple without breaking off at 'Of course, how could I be so
stupid...'
Tuning without playing the concert
Questions without answers

[Kees again:]
A delicious meal without a desert
A cake without cream
Laurel without Hardy
Norway without Bislett
World Allrounds without Norwegians
Netherlands without Thialf
England without Cricket
Wimbledon without grass
Snooker without Jimmy White
Paris-Roubaix without the stones.
The Stones without Mick Jagger
The Beatles without John Lennon
Pink Floyd without Roger Waters
Mueller without Timmer
A Eurovision Song Contest without 'may I have your votes please?'
Physics without Einstein
Ard without Keessie
A winter without ice
An 11-steden tocht without klunen (..klunen? my comment)
Olymic Games without the Marathon
The news without a weatherforecast
Internet without the [skate]list

[Gerrit Stevens:]
Asterix without Obelix.
Hardy without Laurel.
etc.

But most important;

a competition without finish.

[Lunnan&Hjort:]
a fish without bicycle
Lieder ohne Worte
the European Song Contest without musicians
[which is what happens this evening]
foreplay without play
terrorism without a rationale (however misguided)
the murder of Olof Palme without finding the murderer
a man without women
Monteverdi without his 1610 Maria Vespers
Dostoyevskij bez Tolstogo (and vice versa)
a theorem without a proof
January 29th 1967
track-and-field without pole vault for women
Karuizawa without Jonny Nilsson
the Karamazov brothers without Smertyakof
Beatles with Pete Best
Jeff Beck without Hjort and Hinman
a lawyer without clients
police work in Paradise
data without analysis
Big Brother without the Ministry of Truth
dinner without desert
Saharah without dessert
silk without worms
Fanny Kaplan without Lenin
mathematics without the squareroot of minus one
life without disappointments
religion without serious doubts
love without tears
jazz [according to Igor Stravinskij, whose famous
quote about this is given without the full context, however]
Columbus without America
an egg without Columbus
exordium, narratio, partitio, confirmatio, refutatio
without peroratio
World Allround for Ladies 1933-2003
the absence of arrangements of words, phrases, or clauses
in an order of increasing importance, often in parallel structure;
more specifically, like the absence of the repetition of the last word
of one clause or sentence at the beginning of the next, through three
or more clauses or sentences
the present contribution

[more from NLH:]
speedskating without the 500 m
c. interruptus
being in love and waiting at the telephone and it never rings
promises not kept
paradise lost
a forest without photosynthesis
anticlimax with climax
troubled water without a bridge
anarchy without a government
a Möbius strip with only one side
the rational numbers without the reals
skating 9600 metres
ducks without Barks
cows without Larson
Sweden without Carl Larsson
Buda without Pest
speedskating without Bislett
Tenzing without Everest
Hillary without sherpa
Tenzing without a choir
Beethoven's Ninth without a choir
speedskating without timekeeping
a capital without an opera house
Rome without Kapitol
inner track without outer track and v.v.
speedskating without SpeedSkating World
spam filters without spam
the 1500 without Søndrål
Amundsen without the South Pole

[Sander Kaspers:]
The Netherlands without the Gulden
The Netherlands without Pim ;-)
The Netherlands without a champion :-(

[T.B. Hansen:]
Pink Floyd without Syd Barrett
Modern rock without the Pixies
Barcelona without tapas
Literature without mystery & crime
Poirot without Hastings
Marriage without quarrels

[Jeroen Heijmans:]
Like a broken pencil. (pointless, that is) [Free after Sir Edmund Blackadder]

[maplegold2002:]
A coach without an ego!!!

[Robert Hovde:]
Gin without tonic
Dental treatment without anaesthesia
Nose without snot
"World Without Tears" (recommended, re:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000089RV5/ref=m_art_li_1/002-
3528631-0956000?v=glance&s=music)

[me:]
Or
"World without end"... a Lennon quote, ultimately from Heinlein.

[Tim Wolfkamp:]
An ISU championship without a host

[Caroline van Staaveren:]
Great Brittain without the Falklands
the emailliste skate without internet
a day without daylight
a night without stars
olympics without host

[Rober Hovde again:]
Egypt without the pyramids
Detroit without cars
Room without a view
Rebel without a cause
Irene P without a Bible
Yul Brunner without a comb

[Kjell Pettersen:]
A championship without the 10000m is (like) a championships without
spectators...

[Irene P:]
History without Napoleon
History without Jesus
History without Noah
History without Bach
A piano without strings
lavender without odour
A book without pages
A caterpillar who never turns into a butterfly
A girl who never turns into a woman
A male who never stops giggling
A concert without a meal (someone will remember what I mean!)
A list of pbs without those of the past season
Summer without sun
Sea without salt
A klapskate without a hinge
Petrarca without sonnets
Me without us
Us without me
Art without expression
Grieg without lyric
Ibsen without a pen
A dictionary without headwords
electricity without light
a house without a garden
ice without skaters
television without the real world

[Timothy Demerjian:]
An Armenian without a big nose. :o)

[Elisabeth Loehr-Haenig:]
LE TOUR DE FRANCE without Lance Armstrong,
LE TOUR DE FRANCE without a mountain climb stage,
a tiger without claws,
a cactus without flowers.

[Robert Hovde yet again:]
A man without balls
Us without them

[T.B.Hansen (in reply):]
And on the other end of the scale:
My back without an ache....
For us Norwegians:
Abjørnsen without Moe.

[Pietgro@xs4all.nl:]
Skating without capability of endurance
A competition without ending

[Still once more Robert Hovde:]
Saints without sinners

[K W Oevering:]
a farmer without cows
a farmer without a John Deere tractor...

[Hetty:]
Frjentsjer without the PC!

Let me explane this for those of you who don't know this.
Frjentsjer is the Frisian name for the city of Franeker, one of the famous 11
city's. It's my home town, I was born and raised there.

The PC stands for "Permanente Commissie", and it is the biggest
"kaatswedstrijd" of the year. "Kaatsen" is a very old sport. The PC celebrates
it's 150th anniversary this year. The match is always on the 5th wednesday
in July, if there are only 4, than the first one in August. So this year
the big day is on July 30.

The day starts early in the morning, 08:00, with a speech by the chairman.
Then the winners of last year ride in a carriage through the city to the playing
field. A famous field with a name: "Sjûkelân".

Who's interested, there is a website, also available in English!!

http://www.pc-franeker.nl

[J.Slyk:]
A teacher without a class...or was it opposite???

[Caroline again:]
me without the skatelist

[Marije van der Werf:]
Tea-time without tea

[Tore Jan Narvestad:]
a rhyme with no reason.

[Another one from Jørgen Slyk:]
a schoolyear without a loooong summer holiday!

[Marnix Koolhaas:]
Jaap Eden without 17.56,0
Henk van der Grift without 16.53,6
Ard Schenk without 15.01,6 (or 14.55,9?)
Ard without Keesie
Keesie without Ard
Jan Bols without Ard-en-Keesie
1963 without ice
Painting without Hendrick Avercamp
Me without myself (...?)

[Gerrit Stevens again:]
Verkerk without "Schenkt Bols".

[Adam Iwaniszyn:]
Climbing mountains without reaching the summit
Like sport without exertion
Russians without vodka
Germans without beer
French without red wine

[Eric Kraan, the Tex-Mex skater:]
MMMMmmmmm.... How about: Like Mexicans without Tequila!!! :)

Which reminds me, if the NA regional qualifiers are in Calgary, then I
have to take a bottle of this mexican juice (and some fajitas, I
believe) for Mr. Seltsam. SEE YA THERE!

Oh, and as to the Championship without a 10k.
It is like a.... Tapatio eating without Lime, Salt and Chile!!!

[Keessie de Vroege yet again, referring to the August '03 NAm East coast
blackout:]
As the US without electricity ;-)

(And Caroline without Djungel olja)

[Caroline replying:]
:-)))) although it"s maby more a 10000 without an zamboni that it is
equal too

[René van Kleef:]
The Rhine/Rijn without water.
Sprint championship without 500m (A small difference with 'speedskating
without the 500 m')
A 500m without sprinters.
A door without a handle.
and
Me without a job. [it still hurts]

[Jørgen Slyk again:]
And for us norwegian over 30: Bjørnsen without Jorsett (excellent
commetators working for NRK -Norwegian broadcasting corp. - first
radio and then television for 30 years and one week according to
Jorsett on their last commentatorjob at WCh, Thialf back there in 1991)

[Leif Longva:]
Entering a beautiful pub, thirsty for a good bitter ale, and you find
that they only serve ice cold (hence tasteless) industrial lager/pils.
(Yes, like most pubs in Norway, except for the "beautiful"-ness.)

[Iver Ørstavik:]
Muhammed Ali without a lip.
Donald Trump without toupé.
Ipanema without a young lady.
Holland without dikes.
Norway without mountains.
Paris without Notre Dame.
The Pope without a funny hat.
Footballers using their hands.
Rugby with padded players.
Oktoberfest with mineral water.

[me again:]
The EU without Britain

Come on! 24 more laps to go! And the Sun is still shining...