Poor conditions – superb turnout!

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

There was no ice on the road on Saturday when the postponed New Year Half Marathon was run in Eysturoy. And it didn’t snow either. But that is about all the good that can be said about the weather. There was a strong headwind yesterday, and for the first hour it rained almost the whole time. On top of that came some fierce squalls with heavy showers. And they came straight from the front!

But runners are a breed apart. Despite the poor conditions, there was a record turnout. 33 men and 12 women stood shuffling their feet in the quarry by Funningsfjarðarvegur as the clock approached 11, and moments later the whole field set off, pressing on down towards Skálabotnur. The route ran out to Toftakei.

45 runners set off

In the men’s race it was Henry Olsen of Bragdið who went straight to the front, with Jonhard Larsen and Andras Joensen a little way behind. And behind those two, Jóhan M. Jacbosen and Magni Jacobsen were battling it out. After 8 km, Jonhard has pulled away from Andras and worked his way right up to Henry. The two favourites, Jonhard and Henry, then run together up Byrgisbrekka, but at the top Henry picks up the pace and steadily pulls away from Jonhard, winning the New Year Half Marathon 2011 a good two minutes ahead of Jonhard. Undoubtedly Henry’s biggest win since he started running.

Here, after 15 km, Henry has taken a decisive lead

Andras Joensen ran alone in third place for a long time, but once they were well into Runavík, Magni Jacobsen has fought his way up to him. They run together for a while, but already at the bend at Nes Magni pulls away. Magni therefore finishes 3rd, just under 40 seconds ahead of Andras in fourth place.

But Andras didn’t go home empty-handed after all. His result was good enough for a silver medal in the veterans’ category. Number 1 in the veterans’ category was the same man who won the open category, none other than Henry Olsen! Ultramarathon runner Pól Sundskarð took the bronze.

None of the other super-veterans could hold a candle to bestselling author Óli Olsen. He may have started out somewhat cautiously today, but he worked his way up so much that he not only won his category by 10 minutes. The 61-year-old author let only 4 of the young runners finish ahead of him! Jens Weihe and Óli have often had close duels, but this time nothing came of it for the 63-year-old Jens, who nevertheless took silver. Gunnar Simonsen took the bronze.

It was very pleasing to see so many women on the start line. And the top 5 were also fairly evenly matched all the way. Even so, it was Tórvør Østerø Vang who was somewhat ahead of the others throughout. But only just over a minute separated Ingrid Patursson in second place from Gunhild Helmsdal in third, Astrid Joensen in fourth and Katrin Danielsen in fifth. So there was suspense the whole time over how the medals would be shared out.

The women’s veterans’ competition was won by Ingrid Patursson ahead of Lydia Gardar and Karin K. Petersen.

There is no denying that the fighting spirit was strong today. In weather like this you would expect someone to drop out along the way. More than one, even. But today nobody dropped out. All 45 who started on Funningsfjarðarvegur made it safe and sound to Toftakei!! An achievement in itself.

After a good shower in the sports hall, everyone was invited for coffee and hot waffles at Sjókafé. It is of course very pleasant, and no less important, that we don’t just hear each other panting, but can also talk about running and this and that once the battle is over.

Thank you for a great day!

The results can be found here and photos will appear here (as soon as possible).

Here are photos taken by Jóannes, and here are photos taken by Jórun.