Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Although the air temperature was three degrees, the ice was reluctant to loosen its grip on the tarmac in Eysturoy on Saturday morning, when the New Year Half Marathon was run for the 14th time. The ice affected the runners to varying degrees, but most of them still ran good times.
The start at Millum Fjarða
Cancelling the race on Saturday morning would have been incredibly disappointing, because the weather was excellent for running: dry, with a light north-westerly breeze. And wouldn’t most of the participants have gone out for a run that day anyway? In any case, more than 80 runners got a good run and a good race.
It snowed a little at the start, but otherwise it was fine (photo: Gunnar Johannesen, Roysnið)
There was no contest for first place in either the men’s or the women’s race. Sam Vang and Rigmor N. Arge showed early on that “there was nothing to be done”. The places behind them were another matter. In the women’s race, the next four crossed the finish line within one minute of each other. Duruta R. á Lofti took second, just ahead of Beinta Hoydal Joensen, Helena Dahl Olsen and Ann Thomsen. Those Sam left behind also ran together for a long time. Hallur Holm, Martin Gravesern, Niels Poulsen, Regin Zachariasen and Einar Gregersen stayed together for about seven kilometres. Then the group gradually broke up, and they finished in that order.
Sam Vang quickly pulled away from the rest and left no doubt about the win (photo: Gunnar Johannesen, Roysnið)
The others just have to share the scraps. Regin, Martin (hidden), Einar, Hallur and Niels (photo: Gunnar Johannesen, Roysnið
When the courses are long, the older generations are well represented at the front, and so it was today. In the men’s race, five veterans and one super-veteran finished in the top ten. And this despite such well-known runners as Henry Olsen and Guttorm Sørensen having to withdraw from the race at the last minute. Hallur Holm won ahead of the Dane Martin Gravesen. Regin Zachariassen, who becomes a super-veteran next year, ran very well and finished third. The super-veteran category was won by – yes, guess who – Jens R. Weihe. Rani Nolsløe took silver ahead of Pól Sundskarð, who took bronze.
The ones in blue can’t get the better of Rigmor N. Arge, who once again won the New Year Half Marathon. Left: Duruta, right: Beinta
The new and the good old on the podium. From left: Rani, Jens and Pól (photo: Gunnar Johannesen, Roysnið)
The veterans also did well in the women’s race. The top two were the same as in the open category. Here it was Ann Thomsen who took third place. Only one woman took part in the women’s super-veteran category, and that was Jessie Hansen, who went home with the gold.
Once again there was a record turnout for the New Year Half Marathon. No fewer than 84 runners lined up at the start, and although there were dropouts on the way out to Toftakai, 81 runners crossed the finish line.
