New Year Half Marathon: A tough start to the year

Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.

The 15th New Year Half Marathon, organised by Roysnið this morning, gave the participants a tough start to the year. But runners are not afraid of wind and rain, and that showed once again in the turnout, as more than 60 runners stood on the start line on the Funningsfjørður road, ready for the good 21 kilometres into a strong headwind out to the quay in Toftir, where the finish is. During the warm-up there was both wind and rain, but the rain stopped just after the start.

63 well-wrapped-up runners, afraid of neither wind nor rain, set off

Before the start, most runners’ hopes of running good times had already taken a knock. The race was therefore fairly tactical and steady at the front. Eirikur Hansen, who had registered and was the favourite, unfortunately had to withdraw. Of those who started, Sam Vang, last year’s winner, and possibly Julian Gregersen were tipped for the top places. In the women’s race there was an exciting participant, namely Karina Ottosen, who won gold in the triathlon at the Island Games in Jersey last summer, as well as Rigmor N. Arge, who won last time.

The lead group with Julian, Heini, Sam, Hjalmar, Karina, Arnfinn and Guttorm, here having passed Skipanes

The opening was fairly steady, and on reaching Skálabotn there was a group with Sam Vang, Hjalmar Sjóvará, Guttorm Sørensen, Heini Gregersen, Julian Gregersen, Arnfinn Johannessen, Jonhard Larsen and Karina Ottosen, some 100 metres ahead of a group of 9 runners including Rigmor N. Arge and Jens R. Weihe. By Skipanes the gap between the two leading groups had grown to some 200 metres, and the only change was that Jonhard was now in the second group.

This group with Jonhard, Kaj, Herluf, Páll, Rigmor, Jens, Borgar, Jannick and Egil stayed together for a long time

Passing Lambareiði, the situation at the front was unchanged, with the leading 7 still together. In the group behind, everyone was still there, and the gap to the front was now around 1½ minutes. After the water station at just over 15 kilometres, things began to change, and the pace picked up somewhat on the downhill towards Runavík. Sam took off his jacket and declared: “Now the race begins.” Julian was probably the only one in the group who could have gone with Sam, but he chose to take it easy this morning and let Sam go, and Sam was soon clearly in the lead. Guttorm also upped the pace and moved into second place, but by Runavík Julian and Heini were alongside him and Hjalmar was just behind. Arnfinn and Karina had been dropped.

Sam held his comfortable lead to the finish and won in 1:33:08. With the tailwind after the quay in Runavík, Guttorm upped the pace again and broke away from Julian, Heini and Hjalmar. In the end Guttorm finished second, just 11 seconds ahead of Heini and Julian.

In the women’s race it was fairly close at the front at the end, with the gap between Karina and Rigmor shrinking steadily over the final kilometres, but Karina won in 1:36:56, just 12 seconds ahead of Rigmor, who ran 1:37:08. Third was Birna Mohr Joensen.

After the race, Roysnið served coffee/tea and hot waffles at Toftir School before the prize-giving took place.

All the results are below, and photos taken by Hanna Egilsdóttir can be found here: New Year Half Marathon 2016 and photos taken by Jóannes N. Poulsen can be found here: New Year Half Marathon 2016

Results New Year Half Marathon 2 January 2016, 11:00
Pos.	Time	Men open category	Born	Club
1	1:33:08	Sam Vang	1970	Bragdið
2	1:33:43	Guttorm Sørensen	1968	Treysti
3	1:33:54	Heini Gregersen	1964	Treysti
4	1:33:55	Julian Gregersen	1998	Treysti
5	1:34:27	Hjalmar Sjóvará	1966	Bragdið
6	1:36:06	Arnfinn Johannessen	1965	Roysnið
7	1:36:48	Jonhard Larsen	1966	Treysti
8	1:36:58	Jens R. Weihe	1947	Frælsi
9	1:37:00	Kaj Dam	1966	Treysti
10	1:37:05	Herluf Jakobsen	1963	Bragdið
11	1:37:16	Páll H. Vesturbú	1961	Hvirlan
12	1:37:44	Borgar Biskopstø	1962	Treysti
13	1:40:39	Jannick Hjaltalin	1991	No club
14	1:41:52	Regin Thomsen	1976	Roysnið
15	1:41:57	Øssur Steinhólm	1971	Roysnið
16	1:42:09	Egil G. Olsen	1963	Roysnið
17	1:43:06	Dan Knudsen	1962	Bragdið
18	1:43:11	Jóhan E. Simonsen	1969	Bragdið
19	1:43:27	Helgi L. Petersen	1978	Roysnið
20	1:44:17	Rani Nolsøe	1959	Treysti
21	1:44:50	Albert Johansen	1966	Frælsi
22	1:45:51	Dagfinn Forná	1979	Roysnið
23	1:45:55	Kári Simonsen	1959	Bragdið
24	1:47:13	Allan Dalsgarð	1972	Bragdið
25	1:48:34	Terje Hansen	1968	Roysnið
26	1:49:05	Eirikkur Joensen	1967	Roysnið
27	1:49:22	Sverri Steinhólm	1963	Bragdið
28	1:50:29	Herluf Hansen	1973	Bragdið
29	1:50:37	Pól Sundskarð	1957	Treysti
30	1:51:01	Jan Matras	1966	Treysti
31	1:52:07	Rani Friang Rasmussen	1985	Roysnið
32	1:53:01	Gunnar Simonsen	1952	Treysti
33	1:53:43	Jón Rasmussen	1967	Treysti
34	1:55:09	Mads A. Simonsen	1955	No club
35	1:56:15	Fríðrikur Bláhamar	1965	Bragdið
36	1:57:19	Rúni Jacobsen	1965	Roysnið
37	2:03:04	Magnus Pauli Hammer	1995	Roysnið
38	2:03:05	Martin Sivertsen	1973	Treysti
39	2:03:56	Kristin Kristiansen	1980	Bragdið
40	2:04:59	Jóannes Ortind	1951	Bragdið
41	2:07:21	Dávur Reinert Hansen	1960	No club
42	2:09:16	Lars Muller	1974	No club
43	2:09:18	Hallur Biskopstø	1960	Treysti
44	2:12:56	Helgi Johannesen	1967	Roysnið
–	dnf	Regin Jóanesarson	1945	Roysnið
–	dns	Marnar Pattinson	1970	Roysnið
–	dns	Búgvi Ólavsson Eliasen	1989	Roysnið
–	dns	Eirikur Hansen	1980	Bragdið
–	dns	John Ryan	1974	Treysti
–
Pos.	Time	Men veterans (b. 1961 – 1970)	Born	Club
1	1:33:08	Sam Vang	1970	Bragdið
2	1:33:43	Guttorm Sørensen	1968	Treysti
3	1:33:54	Heini Gregersen	1964	Treysti
4	1:34:27	Hjalmar Sjóvará	1966	Bragdið
5	1:36:06	Arnfinn Johannessen	1965	Roysnið
6	1:36:48	Jonhard Larsen	1966	Treysti
7	1:37:00	Kaj Dam	1966	Treysti
8	1:37:05	Herluf Jakobsen	1963	Bragdið
9	1:37:16	Páll H. Vesturbú	1961	Hvirlan
10	1:37:44	Borgar Biskopstø	1962	Treysti
11	1:42:09	Egil G. Olsen	1963	Roysnið
12	1:43:06	Dan Knudsen	1962	Bragdið
13	1:43:11	Jóhan E. Simonsen	1969	Bragdið
14	1:44:50	Albert Johansen	1966	Frælsi
15	1:48:34	Terje Hansen	1968	Roysnið
16	1:49:05	Eirikkur Joensen	1967	Roysnið
17	1:49:22	Sverri Steinhólm	1963	Bragdið
18	1:51:01	Jan Matras	1966	Treysti
19	1:53:43	Jón Rasmussen	1967	Treysti
20	1:56:15	Fríðrikur Bláhamar	1965	Bragdið
21	1:57:19	Rúni Jacobsen	1965	Roysnið
22	2:12:56	Helgi Johannesen	1967	Roysnið
–
Pos.	Time	Men super veterans (b. -1960)	Born	Club
1	1:36:58	Jens R. Weihe	1947	Frælsi
2	1:44:17	Rani Nolsøe	1959	Treysti
3	1:45:55	Kári Simonsen	1959	Bragdið
4	1:50:37	Pól Sundskarð	1957	Treysti
5	1:55:09	Mads A. Simonsen	1955	No club
6	1:52:57	Jóannes Ortind	1951	Bragdið
7	1:53:01	Gunnar Simonsen	1952	Treysti
8	2:07:21	Dávur Reinert Hansen	1960	No club
9	2:09:18	Hallur Biskopstø	1960	Treysti
–
Pos.	Time	Women open category	Born	Club
1	1:36:56	Karina Ottosen	1981	Bragdið
2	1:37:08	Rigmor N. Arge	1969	Hvirlan
3	1:56:45	Birna Mohr Joensen	1970	Hvirlan
4	1:57:32	Anna-Mari av Skarði	1974	Bragdið
5	1:57:52	Ingrid Hofgaard	1968	Bragdið
6	1:59:09	Mona Rasmussen	1969	Treysti
7	1:59:24	Astrid Joensen	1967	Roysnið
8	2:03:10	Vera Larsen	1966	Treysti
9	2:03:18	Adelaid Kirke	1968	Hvirlan
10	2:09:25	Marita Hansen	1979	Bragdið
11	2:09:30	Karin Maria Isaksen	1963	Bragdið
12	2:11:39	Heidi Jógvansdóttir	1972	Bragdið
13	2:13:36	Julianna Frederiksberg	1967	Roysnið
14	2:14:12	Sunneva Olsen	1959	Bragdið
15	2:15:35	Heriet Djurhuus	1965	Bragdið
16	2:16:30	Birita Samuelsen	1968	Bragdið
17	2:29:50	Jessie Hansen	1955	Bragdið
18	2:32:09	Jóhanna Vang	1964	Bragdið
–
Pos.	Time	Women veterans (b. 1961 – 1970)	Born	Club
1	1:37:08	Rigmor N. Arge	1969	Hvirlan
2	1:56:45	Birna Mohr Joensen	1970	Hvirlan
3	1:57:52	Ingrid Hofgaard	1968	Bragdið
4	1:59:09	Mona Rasmussen	1969	Treysti
5	1:59:24	Astrid Joensen	1967	Roysnið
6	2:03:10	Vera Larsen	1966	Treysti
7	2:03:18	Adelaid Kirke	1968	Hvirlan
8	2:09:30	Karin Maria Isaksen	1963	Bragdið
9	2:13:36	Julianna Frederiksberg	1967	Roysnið
10	2:15:35	Heriet Djurhuus	1965	Bragdið
11	2:16:30	Birita Samuelsen	1968	Bragdið
12	2:32:09	Jóhanna Vang	1964	Bragdið
–
Pos.	Time	Women super veterans (b. – 1960)	Born	Club
1	2:14:12	Sunneva Olsen	1959	Bragdið
2	2:29:50	Jessie Hansen	1955	Bragdið

The next running race will be in Sørvágur on 16 January, when Frælsi organises round 4 of the TF Winter Series.