Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
On Saturday morning 30 September at 09:00, a so-called Backyard Ultra race will be held on Faroese soil for the first time, when Bragdið organises the race, which they have named Havnardalur Backyard Ultra.
Backyard running is a relatively new type of race, where the point is not to run fast but to keep going and hold out. The rule is simple: run 6.7 km within one hour. If you take 40 minutes over the course, you can rest for 20 minutes, and if you take 58 minutes, the break is 2 minutes, because the next 6.7 km starts on the next full hour. And so it continues until only one runner is left who is able to complete a 6.7 km lap within one hour.
Backyard running is not just for those who run long distances. It is also a challenge for anyone who wants to test their limits of how far they can go. For some that is two or three laps, for others two or three days. The race offers plenty of opportunities to chat, both out on the route and between laps, and is therefore very enjoyable and sociable.
You can grab a nap between laps.
The race takes place in Havnardalur, where the premises of Ríðingafelagið will be the base for the whole event. Here participants can rest, eat, drink, change clothes and so on between laps. Participants must provide their own food and drink. However, some things will be available to them between every lap: cold water, boiled water, squash, coffee, tea, milk, sugar, crisps, bananas….. Every third hour there will be something more, and the provisional menu looks like this:
- 12:00 rye bread open sandwiches with, among other things, lukewarm meatballs
- 15:00 coffee and traybake cake
- 18:00 meat sauce and pasta spirals
- 21:00 buns and hot chocolate
- 00:00 soup with bread
- after that we will work it out, depending on how many are still going.
The course is a mix of asphalt and good paths. There are just over 100 metres of climb on the course. A good part of the course runs alongside the lovely Sandá.
The very soul of backyard running is that you do not know how long it will last. That is why no finishing time has been set for the event. But it is certain that as the hours pass, the number of participants will fall. And in the end one winner is left standing. All the others are DNFs. But they will not go home empty-handed. Everyone gets a T-shirt printed with the number of laps they completed.
And there will also be extra rewards along the way. A medal will be awarded to everyone who completes 12 laps (50 miles or 80 km) and 24 laps (100 miles or 161 km).
The entry fee is DKK 300. Registration can be found here: https://bragdid.atgongumerki.fo/webshop/event/2223152/order/info
To get the T-shirt, the deadline for registering is this Sunday evening, 17 September. Then send an email to Peter Jensen stating your size. Send to: pj@skalkur.fo
Lazarus Lake, the inventor of the Backyard Ultra.
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