Marna wins Danish marathon title

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

Marna Egholm today won the Danish marathon title when the H. C. Andersen Marathon was run in Odense this morning. Two weeks ago she won silver over the half-marathon distance at the Danish Championships, so this was not entirely unexpected. Not for those who know Marna. But for the commentators covering the live stream, it came as a real surprise. They talked only about other women, and not until Marna was on the track did it dawn on them that she was in fact the one who was going to become Danish champion. And this despite her being a full 9 minutes ahead of the next runner.

Here Marna wins silver in the half marathon at the Danish Championships two weeks ago. In May she won Danish Championship silver over 10,000 metres. And today Danish Championship gold over the marathon distance. Everything seems to be heading in the right direction, and the future is very exciting.

Yes, it was disappointing to follow the live stream this morning, where the focus was only on the leading foreign runners, and then on the two leading Danish men. Not a word about the women’s Danish Championship, where Marna was clearly in the lead the whole way.

But that should not take anything away from Marna’s great achievement. A crushing victory and the first Danish Championship gold medal for a Faroese woman in senior athletics. Marna’s time was 2:46:37, which is also a new Faroese record. The old record was held by Valborg Heinesen, who set it two years ago when she won Danish Championship bronze. Marna did run 2:43 in Berlin last year, but she ran without a chip then, so that record could not be ratified.

This is a demanding time for Marna. Several big, exciting challenges lie ahead. The Nordic Cross-Country Championships are one of them. They take place in Kristiansand in Norway on 12 November.

All 2016 results and more can be found on the official website www.hcamarathon.dk