Home wins in Hvannasund!

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

For the 4th year in a row, a round of the Winter Series was held up north in Hvannasund. As usual, it was a 10 km race, run as 10 laps south along the shore and north along the village road in Hvannasund. Girls and boys ran 4 km. The running conditions turned out to be among the best there have ever been in Hvannasund. Sunshine and only a light breeze, though the occasional fairly strong gust also felt like joining in. Around 45 runners, in good shape and full of anticipation, turned up at Gamli Skúli in Hvannasund, where the bib numbers were handed out and where the finish was.

Hallur has just counted down and sent the runners on their way

Sam Vang of Bragdið, who has won the first three rounds, was not taking part today, so a new winner had to be found. Word had it that the men have been training hard, so it was exciting to see whether this would show in the final times. The closest contenders were Guttorm Sørensen and Jonhard Larsen of Treysti and Henry Olsen of Bragdið. From the start it was clear that Gutti meant to win. Already in the first kilometre he opened a gap of some 20–30 metres on Henry. But Henry fought back well and kept Gutti on a short leash for a long time. Only over the last three kilometres did Gutti manage to put more distance between them, so that at the finish, in 36.01 min, he was 39 sec ahead of Henry in 36.40 min.

The road is narrow, so the field strings out quite a lot straight away

Jonhard Larsen was comfortably in third place the whole way and crossed the line in 37.28 min. The juniors Hans Jacobsen and Danial V. Simonsen from Viðareiði ran together with several other runners for a long time, but towards the end they pulled away, and on the final lap Danial put in a huge surge and opened a few metres on Hans. That gap held all the way to the finish. Danial thus won the junior category in 40.11 min, while Hans took silver in 46.16. Overall they finished 5th and 6th. Danial has shown his talent as a runner before, so hopefully he will now get a taste for it and do even more with his running.

The route is very pleasant, heading south through Hvannasund village along the road that runs beside the shore

Henry was a clear winner among the veterans, ahead of Heini Gregersen, who started cautiously and gradually worked his way up through the field. Heini’s time was 40.35 min. Ultrarunner Pól Sundskarð won his first medal of the year when he finished third among the veterans in 43.18 min.

In the super veterans’ category it turned into a duel between Jens R. Weihe and Heðin Johannessen, who seems to be on his way back to his former strength after being held back by injury for quite a long time. They were almost level the whole way, with Heðin in front, but in the final metres Jens launched his finishing sprint and went past Heðin. Jens’s time was 43.49 min and Heðin’s 43.56 min. Third place, in 46.18 min, went to local man Gunnar Simonsen, who lives in Norðdepil and runs for Treysti.

Most of the runners pass the finish here for the first time

Rebekka Fuglø of Treysti took the expected win in the women’s race in 44.51 min. She took it easy today, as next weekend she is competing in the Danish Indoor Youth Championships (DM) in Skive. Second was veteran Ella Áarstein in 47.58 min, ahead of Gunnhild Helmsdal in 48.39min.

There were two junior women, and here Rebekka won ahead of Dagmar Johannesen of Bragdið. Among the veteran women, Ella Áarstein of Treysti won ahead of Karin K. Petersen of Treysti and Karin Maria Isaksen of Bragdið.

Marnar went straight to the front in the boys’ race

In the boys’ race it was a clear win for Marnar Djurhuus in 13.23 min, ahead of Einar Gregersen in 15.23 min and Gunnar Sivertsen in 18.19 min. All three run for Treysti.

In the girls’ race Elsa Berg of Bragdið was the winner in 18.00 min. Second was local girl Sonja Sirdal from Hvannasund in 20.07 min, just 2 seconds ahead of Hildur Poulsen of Bragdið.

After the race the prize-giving took place at the school in Fossánes. There was a chance to have a shower, and coffee/tea and homemade traybakes were also served.

All the results from Hvannasund can be found in .pdf HERE. The overall standings after 4 rounds can be found in .pdf HERE. Photos will follow tomorrow.

The last and deciding round of the Winter Series will be in Runavík on 26 March, when the popular Spring Race (Várkappingin) takes place.