Bragdið runners in Hamburg

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

This morning Hamburg opened its streets to the Hamburg Marathon for the 31st time. These are the same streets that were run in 1988, when the current Faroese men’s marathon record was set in 1988. The Hamburg Marathon was being run for the third time then, and among the runners was Absalon Hansen, who set the record of 2.27.58. It still stands today and is also the oldest record in Faroese athletics.

From left: Duruta, Hjalmar, Regin Áki, Jónrit, Ragnar, Beinta, Hergerð, Ann, Krista and Eydna

Ten runners from Bragdið were ready on the start line this morning at 9:00 Hamburg time. Absalon’s record was never in danger, neither before nor during the race. Even so, they achieved remarkably good results. The club’s star women’s quartet has trained long and hard, and today the four of them, Ann Thomsen, Beinta Hoydal Joensen, Duruta á Lofti and Krista Nielsen, were rewarded for their efforts. Once again they were very evenly matched today, and all of them finished under 3.29 hours. As far as the writer knows, this is a personal best for all of them.

Regin Áki Hansen recorded the best Faroese time but just failed to get under three hours. That will have to wait until next time. Hjalmar Sjóvará was a little further off the 3-hour mark, but with a bit of goodwill he too can start dreaming of a time under three hours.

Bragdið’s results today:

Regin Áki Hansen 3.01.39
Hjalmar Sjóvará 3.06.16
Krista Nielsen 3.26.19
Duruta R. á Lofti 3.26.19
Ann Thomsen 3.26.57
Beinta Hoydal Joensen 3.28.55
Hergerð Heldarskarð 3.59.10
Eydna Weihe 3.59.14
Jónrit Dalsgarð 4.06.32

Ragnar Joensen 1.43.30 (½ marathon)

For the vast majority, it was a personal best.

Team leader Petur Martin, always ready with a well-earned light beer. From left: Hjalmar, Regin Áki, Ragnar and Petur Martin