Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
The Island Games on the Isle of Wight are now under way, and the first event was the 1/2 marathon, in which our own Bjørk Herup Olsen also took part. Bjørk has prepared well for the Island Games, and although she had never run a 1/2 marathon before, she has always believed she could get into the fight for the medals. That was also the plan today. The pace at the start was very fast. Last year’s silver medallist, Turi Malme, and an Island Games debutant from Åland, Johanna Kahlroth, went off very boldly, while Jo Gorrod of Jersey tried to follow them. Bjørk also tried to stay with them for a while, but felt rather heavy, and so chose early on to find a suitable pace instead. A very sensible decision, especially considering that this was by far the longest race she had ever attempted.
The course had a bit of everything. It started on the track, followed by two small laps of about 2 km around the stadium area, back onto the track, and then two bigger laps, through the town and also along an asphalt road through a wood. When Bjørk set out on the second of the bigger laps, she was in 4th place, 1:06 behind Jo Gorrod in third and about 1:20 behind the two leaders. Hot on her heels came four others, panting hard. So there were 8 hard kilometres with three long climbs to be tackled on the final lap.
Of the chasers, only one, from the Isle of Man, was still keeping up. She had shown good strength on the climbs on the first lap, but on the first big climb of the second lap she gained nothing much, and at the top it was clear that Bjørk had now taken 12 seconds out of Jo Gorrod in 3rd place. Now there was a downhill stretch for a while, and things looked much brighter. On the downhill and a small, gentle uphill she closed in a little more, but there was still a big gap and less distance to the finish.
When they then turn left up towards the wood, they reach a very steep climb of around 200 metres. On this climb Bjørk gained another 10 seconds, and now it really looked as if the bronze could be within reach, even though only just over 3 km remained to the finish and the gap was still 42 seconds. But it was clear that Jo Gorrod was starting to tire now and had lost a lot of speed. On the last climb Bjørk again ate up a heap of seconds, and now she was so close that she could see her almost all the time. Just before the 20 km mark Bjørk caught Gorrod. At full speed she swept past her, and did not look back until she crossed the finish line at Fareway Sportcenter in great style and with a new Faroese record. Bjørk’s time was 1:24:35, which is 12 seconds faster than the old record held by Rigmor N. Arge.
Bjørk’s first Island Games medal was a reality. And it was a very happy Bjørk we saw after the race. She has worked hard for several years towards this fine result.
Heartfelt congratulations on the bronze medal, Bjørk!!
Turi Malme, Johanna Kahlroth and Bjørk Herup Olsen with their medals
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