Marna 14th in Kristiansand

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

Things did not go entirely to plan when Marna Egholm took part in the Nordic Cross-Country Championships yesterday. The competition took place in Kristiansand in Norway. It was cold and there was snow on the course, and this gave our rather inexperienced cross-country runner extra challenges. She was up against very strong women, and the winner from Sweden in particular showed tremendous strength. The leading Finnish women also proved to be in unusually good form.

There were several degrees of frost on Saturday night, and this left its mark on the course itself. It paid to wrap up well for the warm-up.

The result was as follows:

No.	Name	Result
1	Charlotta FougbergSverige	28:36.7
2	Camilla RichardssonFinland	29:10.9
3	Annemari KiekaraFinland	29:11.6
4	Louise WikerSverige	29:18.6
5	Sara HolmgrenSverige	29:23.2
6	Lena SelenNorge	29:30.1
7	Maria WåganNorge	29:51.1
8	Sissel MøllerDenmark/Færøyene – Denmark	29:57.2
9	Anne NevinNorge	29:58.1
10	Frida KristianssonSverige	30:01.3
11	Lea ReimeDenmark/Færøyene – Denmark	30:05.8
12	Ronja FjellnerSverige	30:36.0
13	Aino KivenmäkiFinland	30:41.9
14	Marna EgholmDenmark/Færøyene – Færøyene	31:27.6
15	Suvi MiettinenFinland	32:59.6

 

Her legs felt heavy right from the start, said Marna, who battled hard over the whole course. The fatigue from the Danish Marathon Championships is still in her body, and so her training in the run-up to this competition has not been optimal. At the Nordic 10,000 m Championships in May, Marna finished well ahead of Denmark’s Sissel Møller, who came eighth yesterday. This says something about the difference between running on the flat and cross-country running, and also about the importance of being well prepared for cross-country, where you never get to find your own rhythm, which is otherwise Marna’s strength.

Marna battled hard all the way

This is the third time the Faroe Islands have been represented at the Nordic Cross-Country Championships. The first time was in 2014, when Valborg Heinesen ran in Reykjavík. She beat all five Icelandic women, but none of the others. She battled right to the very end against the one Danish woman, but finished two seconds behind. In 2015 Marna took part in Gothenburg, but had to drop out when she got injured. At that point she was battling among the last three.

Yesterday was therefore the first time we beat a runner “from the big countries”, as Marna finished well ahead of the last Finnish woman.

At FÍF we consider it hugely important to compete internationally wherever we have the opportunity. Of course, it must also be justifiable in sporting terms. At the moment only Marna is capable of this. But we have some very strong youth runners, and we should perhaps offer the very best of them a place at the Nordic Championships next year.

Despite the cold and snow, there was not much wind. Still, it is always easy and no less good and heart-warming to see Merkið among the other Nordic flags

On the results list you can see that the Danish women, like Marna, are listed as representing Denmark/Færøyane. This is because the Danes had two withdrawals and therefore could not field a team for the team competition. A combined team was therefore formed for Denmark and the Faroe Islands.

Rigmor N. Arge from FÍF was team leader on the trip, and she also took the photos.