Faroese runners perform well in Denmark!

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

Sørvágur wasn’t the only place where our runners were racing at the weekend. The two hardy ultra globetrotters, Henrik Kølleskov and Rúni Simonsen from Bragdið, had taken on a gruelling challenge on Bornholm. They had to run 50 miles, or 80 kilometres, in the north-west corner of Bornholm, including the area around Hammershus.

Running 80 kilometres in snow and many degrees of frost is one thing. But the brutal climbs and descents, almost the whole way, make this challenge something truly special, and simply completing such a race is an achievement in itself. Kølle and Rúni have taken part in other ultra races this past year, but this challenge was several notches harder than the others.

Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of our men on Bornholm yet, but this is one example of what the route looks like…..

Their preparations can hardly have been ideal, as both of them work offshore. Rúni in particular had fallen short in his preparations, and he had a very hard time on the last of the four 20-kilometre laps. But he still managed to finish, with a total time of 13 hours and 23 minutes.

Medals are awarded for completing the course, and the top three also receive medals. In addition, a special belt buckle can be won by finishing under a set time. The cut-off was 11 hours 15 minutes, but because of frost and icy conditions it was moved to 12 hours. Henrik Kølleskov managed to run the course in 11 hours and 41 minutes, and so won the much-coveted Hammertrail belt buckle.

Here is a photo from last spring, when the three of them, Henrik Kølle Kølleskov, Sofus Poulsen and Rúni Simonsen, ran the 56-kilometre Fyr-til-fyr ultra course.

Our top runner at the moment, Marna Egholm, was also racing on Saturday. This was the so-called Garmin trail series, which consists of three rounds from November to January. On Saturday they ran off-trail in deep snow, and just as in the first two rounds, it was once again Marna Egholm who won comfortably. The course was 6 kilometres with 300 metres of climb.

Marna is a strong runner and in good form. (photo: Garmin-trail)