Marna third in Denmark

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

While the home runners were battling through round seven of the TF Winter Series down in Vágur, Marna Egholm was in Strib near Middelfart, competing for the Danish 10 km title. No one could wish for better running weather than in Strib today. Dry, still, cold and the most glorious sunshine. The route was flat, so fast times were expected today.

Most of the very best women ready to battle for the Danish 10 km title

Kenyan Silvia Kibberenge and Simone Glad pulled away from the rest straight away. Soon Louise Langelund Batting and Marna had also broken clear, and they ran together for a while. Batting was going too fast, though, so Marna had to ease off and let her go. By then, however, Marna had already opened up a good gap to fifth place, so now it was a matter of defending fourth place, which in reality meant a Danish championship bronze, since the leading woman holds a Kenyan passport.

Marna ended up running on her own for most of the race

Although those behind pushed tremendously hard, Marna managed to hold them off. The announcer tried to make the battle for bronze exciting, but in the end third place was fairly secure.

Here the Danish championship bronze is secured in a new Faroese record time

And the fast times people had expected certainly materialised. All six of the leading women set big personal bests. Danish champion Simone Glad, who has won the Danish championship five times in the last six years, took a whole minute off her best time and ran under 33 minutes! This was the best time by a Danish woman in 13 years. Our own Marna Egholm also set a solid personal best, and a Faroese record too. Her time, and the new record, was 35:17. For comparison, when Marna won silver in the 10,000 metres in Jersey last summer, her time was 36:48.24. So things are moving in the right direction at full speed.

After the race Marna was called for doping control. It took her a few hours to provide the necessary drops

The previous 10 km road record belonged to Joan Bláfoss. Joan was also a very strong runner, and won Danish championship silver over this very distance in both 2009 and 2010! Her time in 2009 was 35:32, but unfortunately it could not be ratified as a record. The previous record was her time from 2010, which was 36:37.

The Danish championship medallists, men and women

Marna also won bronze in the team competition together with her club Sparta from Copenhagen

We look forward to next Saturday, when we will see Marna in Runavík, where she will take part in the Faroese 10 km Championships, which will also be the final round of the TF Winter Series.

FÍF warmly congratulates Marna on the record and on the bronze.

Photos