Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
Yesterday the Reykjavík Marathon was run, and as usual there were Faroese runners taking part. Among them was Martin Gravesen, who has had a very good season so far. In May he became Faroese champion in the half marathon, and in June he won the Faroese title over the full marathon distance, when he finished second in the Tórshavn Marathon, 40 seconds behind the Briton Joe Dale.
On that occasion Martin ran 2:54:30. In Reykjavík yesterday his time was 2:45:41, almost nine minutes faster than in Tórshavn, which no doubt says something about the hills of Suðurstreymoy. With this excellent time Martin Gravesen ran himself into 7th place overall and third place in the 40–49 age group. Martin himself is 48 years old.
Martin Gravesen leading in the Faroese Half Marathon Championships. Yesterday he was almost 10 min. ahead of the Icelandic marathon champion.
Many foreigners take part in the Reykjavík Marathon. And since the standard of the best Icelanders is somewhat questionable, the best Icelander finished all the way down in 25th place. That was Hranfkell Hjørleifsson in 2:55:04. But the more remarkable one is the man who finished second of all the Icelanders.
In 2010 a few Icelanders took part in VILT in Suðuroy, and there we noticed an older Icelander who ran unusually well for his age. The man’s name was Sigurð Sigurðbjørnsson, and he had been to the Faroe Islands before, when he played chess in an international match against the Faroese. It turned out that he held all the Icelandic records in ultrarunning. Sigurbjørn was born in 1955 and is therefore 60 years old. His time yesterday was 2:59:35!
Although he finished in 49th place, only three Icelanders were ahead of Albert Johansen from Frælsi, who clocked 3:09:28. Ann-Mari av Skarði also ran the good old 42 kilometres and crossed the finish line in 4:00:14.
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