Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
After long training sessions through the whole winter and up to now, the moment had finally come for the talent group to travel abroad and show what it is made of. The journey went first to Aalborg and Frederikshavn, before the ferry sailed us the last stretch to Gothenburg. It turned into a long and tiring day of travelling, so it was straight to bed when we arrived late in the evening at Hotel Villan, which lies by the Göta älv.
On the trip are Helgi Geyti, Trygvi Laksafoss and Marita K. Petersen from Hvirlan, Bjørk Herup Olsen, Rúni Seloy, Dánjal Jákup Niclasen, Regin Joensen, Elsa Berg and Sára Debesardóttir from Bragdið, and Rebekka Fuglø and Marnar Djurhuus from Treysti. Guttorm Sørensen and Hallur Holm are the team leaders on the trip. In addition, Heri Ziska and Debes Christiansen are also along, representing both of the Tórshavn clubs.
The group has lined up on an anchor at Eriksberg
As early as Friday morning, javelin thrower Helgi Geyti was due to compete (boys 17). Helgi has improved a great deal over the past year, and earlier this year he has thrown over 44 metres with the 700 g javelin. The aim of this competition was to build further on the steady progress he has been making. His first throw went somewhat wrong, but on his second throw the javelin flew out to a good 42 metres. That was not enough for Helgi, however, who on his third attempt did everything he could to reach the final. It did not come off, and Helgi was therefore left on 42.41 m, which was good enough for 20th place out of the 29 participants. There is little doubt, though, that Helgi will improve his age-group record considerably in the time to come.
Helgi Geyti throwing the javelin
The other Hvirlan boy, Trygvi Laksafoss, got into the talent group as a high jumper. But on Friday it was the long jump on the programme. It is not an event Trygvi is very used to competing in, but that did not dampen his spirits. Already on his first attempt he flew out to 5.69 metres, improving his personal best by around 40 centimetres! There were 38 participants in this competition, so there was about half an hour between jumps. Whether that was the reason his next jump went wrong is hard to say, but in any case the third and final jump was really good and also well above his old personal best. Trygvi was of course very pleased with such a big improvement, and the fact that it was also a new age-group record for boys 16 did not make the day any worse.
Trygvi Laksafoss’s 1st jump went well.
Next it was girls 14 and Elsa Berg, who was to compete in the 800 m. Elsa ran well in Iceland in January (2:34), but at the Tårnby Games late in the spring things went less well. She crossed the line in 2:39 there. And it was above all that result that she wanted to wash away. Elsa ended up running in the second-fastest heat, and settled in a good position in 3rd–4th place. After the first lap she moved right up to the leaders and then swept past them. This looked good. But Elsa may have overestimated her strength a little, because a moment later both of the aforementioned girls and a third girl passed her again. Now there were 200 metres left and the final sprint lay ahead. Elsa fought with everything she had all the way to the line, and finished 4th in the heat with a new personal best (2:33.15). Overall this was good enough for 15th place out of the 45 participants, and that has to be called a very fine effort by Elsa, who focuses more on the sprint distances.
Elsa Berg set a personal best over 800 metres
One of our most experienced young runners is 16-year-old Rúni Seloy. Yesterday he was to run the 800 m for boys 17. As usual, Rúni went out like a man possessed, and as early as 200 m it looked as if Rúni wanted to break clear of the field. But the gap soon closed again, and someone had plans to go past him. But Rúni refused to give up his place as the lead dog and held on all the way to 600 m. Now it began to show who had been carrying the heavy load, and Rúni’s legs seemed heavier than they ever have. Although Rúni fought like a sled dog, he could not find any speed over the last 100 metres, and in the end Rúni finished 5th. But this was also the fastest heat with the best runners. Overall Rúni was also 5th out of the 55 participants. His time was 1.5811, which is his best time this year. Rúni’s personal best is otherwise 1:56.73.
Rúni Seloy pushed hard from the front
Rúni Seloy halfway through and after the race
Then it was 12-year-old Marita K. Petersen, who was to try her hand at the shot put. And it went well. Already on her first attempt she managed to set a personal best when she put 7.82 metres. This was also her best throw, and it was good enough for 20th place out of 28 participants, as well as a new Faroese age-group record. Marita’s greatest strength is otherwise the javelin, and that competition takes place this afternoon.
Marita K. Petersen set an age-group record in the shot put
Our last competition was yesterday evening, when Bjørk Herup Olsen ran the 3,000 m for women. Bjørk has long been aiming to get under 10 minutes, and today was meant to be the day. Several of the runners she was up against had entry times just under 10 minutes, so it suited her perfectly. The pace over the first laps was also exactly as it should be. Right up to around 2,000 metres it looked as if it was going to work. But then she hit a rough patch, and over the next two laps precious seconds were lost. Although Bjørk recovered well and ran an excellent final sprint, she did not manage to break the 10-minute barrier this time. But it surely won’t be long now! The result this time was 10:05.86, which is a new personal best, age-group record and Faroese record for women! So that was a plaster on the wound! Bjørk has otherwise run 10:02 indoors.
Bjørk Herup Olsen setting a Faroese record in the women’s 3,000 m.
