Three runners off to VU-Spelen and ScandiCamp

Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.

On Thursday three excited runners sat on board an Atlantic Airways flight from Vágar to Aalborg. They were the three familiar faces of Jóan Karl Joensen and Bjørk Herup Olsen from Bragdið, and Jan Elmar Sørensen from Treysti. From Aalborg they were to drive to Frederikshavn, and from there take the ferry to Gothenburg, where the big athletics competition VU-Spelen is being held this weekend.

FÍF invited Jóan Karl and Bjørk to come along, as they represent the FÍF elite group. Jan Elmar is taking part representing Treysti.

This is the third time FÍF has been represented at VU-Spelen. The two previous years were 2005 and 2006. The competition just keeps growing in number of participants, and this year there will be 7,480 starts.

First into the fray, and the only one of ours competing today, Friday, will be Jan Elmar, who will race the 800 metres (Boys 17) at 15:50. There are 60 entries for this race.

The rest of the schedule is as follows:

• Saturday 15:45 Bjørk Herup Olsen G 17 1,500 metres (36 participants)
• – 16:30 Jan Elmar Sørensen B 17 1,500 metres (50)
• – 19:45 Jóan Karl Joensen, Men 400 metres (77)
• Sunday 18:20 Jan Elmar Sørensen, B17 3,000 metres (44)
• – 19:30 Bjørk Herup Olsen, G17 800 metres (75)
• – 20:30 Jóan Karl Joensen, Men 800 metres (82)

Results are usually published live on the website www.vuspelen.just.nu – we hope to have some photos and reports from the competitions as soon as possible.

When the competition ends on Sunday evening, the Faroese participants will have to move quickly. They will travel by bus together with 40 athletes from the other Nordic countries to the first joint Nordic youth training camp – called ScandiCamp – organised by the athletics federations of Sweden, Norway and Denmark respectively. The training camp will be held in Stenungsund, 50 kilometres north of Gothenburg.

The training camp runs from Monday to Wednesday. As well as four training sessions with highly qualified coaches, the programme also includes lectures, advice and social activities. A very welcome opportunity for our young athletes to gain fresh inspiration and also to get to know other athletics people.

Jóan Karl is leading the trip, and if all goes to plan, they will be back in Vágar on Thursday.