Early years
When he was nine years old, Van Kempen moved with his parents to the village of De Hoef in the province of Utrecht. It was in the polder landscape surrounding his family home that he learnt to ice skate. During his youth, he also participated in athletics and cycling, before giving himself over wholly to ice skating from the age of seventeen. He joined the regional squad as a long-track speed skater, but he felt most at home in marathon skating. As a B-category skater, he scored one victory after another, and in 1984 he made the move up to the A-category.
Period of success
In the years after 1985, Van Kempen was by far the most successful athlete in marathon speed skating. His nickname was "Poeske" ("Little Cat"), a reference to his feline skating style and hunched back. He won the KNSB Cup in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1992, and secured 47 marathon victories on artificial ice. All together, he achieved 112 victories over both artificial and natural ice. He also won the Heineken Six-Day race twice. In 1991, Van Kempen became the national marathon champion on artificial ice, and in 1996, he won the Open Dutch Marathon Championship on natural ice, held in Austria on the Plansee, near Reutte.
Between 1987 and 1990, Van Kempen competed four times in the Dutch national single-distance championships in the 10,000-metre event. On each occasion, he finished near the back of the field. His personal best for this long-distance event, set in December 1987 at the Thialf arena in Heerenveen, was 14:40.67.
Van Kempen achieved his victories mainly on artificial ice. He participated in only one edition of the Elfstedentocht (the thirteenth, in 1985), finishing in 92nd place. He also took part seven times in the Alternative Elfstedentocht in Finland. His last appearance there, on 2 March 1996, resulted in his greatest victory on natural ice and his first win in a 200-kilometre race; he proved the fastest in a final sprint among a group of fifteen skaters. This was the last race of his successful career, which he brought to a close at the age of 31.
After his career
Right after Van Kempen's active career in 1996, he became a team manager, working with outfits such as Nuon/Dasia, and an assistant coach for the BAM speed skating team. From August 2014 to October 2015, he served as the Marathon Competition Manager for the Royal Dutch Skating Association (KNSB). Later, he became the chair of the KNSB's Marathon Referees Committee. He was a thatcher by trade. In 1985, he joined his father's business, which he then took over in 2000. In 2017, he moved to the village of Unnaryd in Sweden. There, he became the manager of marathon races held on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia.
