Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
After the superb start for athletics on Monday morning, the 10,000-metre runners were to try to follow up the good results on Monday evening. First Valborg Heinesen in the women’s race and then Marnar Djurhuus in the men’s. There were many names on the women’s start list, but as the race drew nearer, word came of a few withdrawals. In the end there were only six women on the start line when the gun went. You would think it would be an easy ride from there. But things didn’t play out that smoothly, because of all the names in the field, four were the ones we had seen beforehand as Valborg’s most dangerous rivals.
A rather thin field at the start, but that did nothing to harm the quality.
The race plan was clear. Valborg was simply to follow and not do any work until after 6-7000 m. The pace in the early stages was nothing to boast about, around 4:00 per km. The Greenlandic woman dropped off after just 2-3000 metres, leaving only the five favourites. Valborg sat dozing at the back, almost at resting heart rate, when Hannah Howard dropped off shortly before 5000 metres, which were covered in 19:56.
At the back, ahead of the Greenlandic Liza. Gail Griffith leads ahead of Eastwanick, Howard, Livet and Valborg.
Now the pace picked up a little, and Eastwanick from Bermuda also began to struggle. It was mostly Gail Griffith of the Isle of Man who set the pace. After 7000 metres Valborg had grown tired of the anonymous life at the back and felt like flexing her muscles. She took the lead and put in a bit more pace. It wasn’t long before Sara Livet of Ynos Mon was dropped, leaving only Valborg and Gail Griffith. Valborg now ran a number of evenly fast laps, increasing slightly all the time. The pace was below 3:35 for a long time, so it could only be a question of when the one in red would have to let go. But she was as stubborn as sin, and not until there were 900 metres to go did the gap we had been waiting for open up. Valborg was quick to put in an extra surge and thereby deal Griffith the knockout blow. Valborg never looked back, but ran all the way in great style and with plenty to spare to a secure gold medal.
And this was a very welcome gold medal. Athletics had not won gold at the Island Games since Heri Ziska won the discus in Guernsey in 2003, so it has been 10 years.
That no one managed to follow Valborg when she really turned up the pace is not so strange, because she ran the last 5000 metres in 18:05 min, and the last 3000 metres were covered in an impressive 10:37 min, which corresponds to 3:32 per km!!
We wholeheartedly congratulate Valborg on the gold medal and are already starting to look forward to Friday, when the half marathon is on the programme.
Victorious, Valborg raises her arms in the air. She even lapped one of the other favourites!
And of course she got a hug from an overjoyed chair!
Heat: Final
| Position | Bib | Competitor | Island | Result | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 73 | Valborg Heinesen | Faroe Islands | 38:01.20 |  Gold |
| 2nd | 65 | Gail Griffiths | Isle of Man | 38:14.62 |  Silver |
| 3rd | 48 | Ashley Estwanik | Bermuda | 38:47.61 |  Bronze |
| 4th | 108 | Sarah Livett | Ynys Môn | 39:46.30 | |
| 5th | 81 | Hannah Howard | Isle of Man | 39:48.52 | |
| DNS | 76 | Rose-Anna Hoey | Bermuda | ||
| DNS | 83 | Synnøve Ingulfsvand | Hitra | ||
| DNF | 84 | Liza Tuperna Itzchaky | Greenland | ||
| DNS | 127 | Emma Jane Montiel | Gibraltar |
| 15/07/2013 20:26:42 | Confirmed 15/07/2013 20:27:17 | N/A |
