Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
On Friday evening, 30 May 2008, Joan Bláfoss from Tórshavn set a new record over 5 km. She did it in the night race in Frederiksberg, where she ran to 2nd place in the women’s race. Joan crossed the line in 17:21 min, 4 seconds behind the winner. The old record was from the spring race in Runavík last year, when Bjørk ran 18:35 min.
Earlier this spring Joan took part in the Danish 10 km road running championships. There she ran to a fine silver medal in an excellent time of 35:33 min. That time would have been a big improvement on the Faroese record. Unfortunately, the course turned out to be 50 metres too short, so the record could not be ratified. At the Danish cross-country championships in February she won bronze!
Joan won bronze at the Danish cross-country championships 2008
Joan is otherwise best known as a triathlete. At the Island Games in Rhodes last year she finished fifth, and together with Anna Karina Ottosen and Súsanna Skylv Sørensen she won silver in the team competition. Since then she has improved a great deal. Her standout performance came when she won a half Ironman in Portugal this spring. Joan finished that race by running the half marathon in 1:19:23. An incredibly good time, even though the course turned out to be just under 20 km.
Achieving results like Joan’s takes a great deal of work. A normal training week for Joan is between 15 and 25 hours and includes 12–17 km of swimming, 150–350 km of cycling and 40–70 km of running.
As mentioned, Joan is not well known among runners in the Faroe Islands, and she has only taken part in one running race in the Faroes, so some may be asking “who is Joan?”
Joan was born on 11 September 1980 and grew up on Hoyvíksvegur in Tórshavn. She is studying medicine in Copenhagen and after the summer holidays will begin her 5th year of study. Joan lives on Amager with Ragnar Rasmussen, whom we also know from the national badminton team.
There will be no triathlon at next year’s Island Games. FÍF therefore hopes that Joan Bláfoss will represent the Faroe Islands in the running events at the next Island Games. Joan must also be considered a welcome rival for the young, up-and-coming Faroese women.
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