Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Those who are Facebook friends with Valborg Heinesen have long since grown used to pictures of a happy, smiling girl up on a podium with a trophy in her hand, usually on the top step with the biggest trophy. Still, perhaps not everyone in the Faroese running world knows all about Valborg Heinesen, even though she has won the women’s race, the Tórshavn ½ Marathon and also some of the summer Grand Prix races. At Ólavsøka last summer she finished number 2, behind Bjørk Herup Olsen. Valborg is a medical student from Tórshavn studying in Poland, now in her seventh year. Running has taken up more and more of her life, while her results have also got better and better.
Here Valborg talks to Kringvarpið after her win in the Tórshavn ½ Marathon.
About half a year ago, Valborg stepped up her running yet another notch. Her results in Poland have really attracted attention, and this ended with a Polish national team coach in long-distance running contacting Valborg to give her training more structure. Since then her training has steadily intensified, and in many weeks Valborg is running more than 100 kilometres. The training has also paid off:
On 15 March Valborg took part in a major race over the 15 kilometre course, where she managed to finish sixth of around 200 women. Her time was also very good. 59:33 min corresponds to an average pace of 3:58 min/km! The race was three laps of five kilometres, so considering that her opening was quite fast at 19:23 min for the first five kilometres, it is easy to imagine how hard she fought to hold the pace all the way.
On the last day of the Island Games there will be a ½ marathon. And with Bjørk and Valborg in top form, it would take very bad luck for something glittering not to come our way. On a reasonably flat route, it is conceivable that both of them could go under the Faroese record, which is 1:24:35. In April Valborg will run the Prague ½ Marathon, and she will also run a 10,000 metres on the track. Then we will really get to see what she is made of. With the Island Games selection fast approaching, it is likely that the name Valborg Heinesen will become better known in running circles than it has been!
