Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Although a Valborg Heinesen in good running form had turned up for the Ólavsøka Run yesterday, it was once again, as so often before, Bjørk Herup Olsen who was the clear favourite to take home the Ólavsøka trophy. The men’s race was harder to call. No fewer than five former winners stood on the pavement as spectators. Absalon Hansen, Guttorm Sørensen, Bogi Lenvig, Hallur Holm and last year’s winner, Marnar Djurhuus, had for various reasons not entered the race.
The start has just been fired
Still, there were two former winners on the start line: Sam Vang and Andrias Hansen. Sam’s form has been on the slide lately, and it was impossible to judge how strong Andrias was. He has hardly raced at all this past year, but he did run a pretty good marathon in Copenhagen. So people were keeping half an eye on him before the start. It was also very hard to judge how strong Gudmundur Joensen was. If he was in good running form, there was little doubt that he was the biggest favourite on the day. But with an Ironman and an Effo-Føroyar in his legs, some might have suspected him of being a little tired. And then there was the evergreen Henry Olsen. He has shown great strength over the past two years, and at the Faroese Championships he could almost just as well have won gold instead of silver in the 5,000 m. Other outsiders were the yellow-clad Marnar Pattinson, Einar Gregersen and Jan Elmar Sørensen.
These hardy runners were all lying in wait for the win. In front Henry Olsen, then Sam Vang, Jan Elmar Sørensen and Marnar Pattinson.
If anyone had wondered whether Gudmundur was tired, they soon got their answer. Already on the first lap he made a break and opened up a gap of some 50 metres on the other contenders. Behind him, Sam, Pattinson, Henry and Jan Elmar were battling it out. Henry soon broke away from the others too, and he was the man to chase Gudmundur. On the second lap Henry closed in on him a little, but then it stalled. The gap between them stayed more or less steady over the last three laps. Sam also managed to fight his way clear of Jan Elmar and Marnar Pattinson, while Andrias Hansen really put in a surge towards the end, passing both of the yellow-clad runners and finishing in fourth place not far behind Sam Vang.
Gudmundur Joensen in front from start to finish.
There was never any suspense about the top places in the women’s race. Bjørk was clearly in front almost straight away. Valborg Heinesen was also well ahead of Borgarhjørt Holm in third place from early on. Bjørk finished about a minute ahead of Valborg, who was about half a minute ahead of Borgarhjørt.
Bjørk won yet another Ólavsøka victory. Here she is pictured before the start with her first coach, Súni Jacobsen
The results are not available yet. They will be published on Bragdið’s website as soon as possible. Bragdið used a new timing system for the Ólavsøka Run. It is the widely used chip system, where the runner attaches a chip to their shoelaces. When the runner crosses the finish line, they step on a mat that reads the time and name into the computer. Bragdið acquired this system itself, something they have wanted for many, many years.
As for the weather, you would hardly find better running weather anywhere. But that only held while the adults were running. During the children’s race it started to rain. More and more. And at one point it was absolutely pouring, so people had their hands full saving all the equipment and themselves too. But all the races were completed, and the trophies and medals were presented inside Valdemar Lutzen’s warehouse.
It got rather wet during the children’s race. But as you can see, it did not dampen the fighting spirit.
More photos can be found in Bragdið’s photo gallery here: http://www.bragdid.fo/?page_id=1935&album=11&gallery=113&nggpage=7 and in Treysti’s photo gallery here: Ólavsøka Run 2012
Hvirlan also has photos from the Ólavsøka Run here: http://www.hvirlan.fo/?page_id=4718&album=7&gallery=170
Results from the Ólavsøka Run are available as a .pdf here: Results Ólavsøka 2012
