FÍF archive

First wins of the year for Rigmor and Marnar

10.01.2017 · Hallur Holm

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

Doubtful weather. Hmmmm….. no, not really. That’s how it tends to be every time the New Year Half Marathon is run. But it depends on whether you are thinking about good times, or just about being able to complete the race. There was no reason to think about cancelling because of ice or snow. Global warming continues, and snow gives us runners less and less trouble. Even at this time of midwinter.

65 brave runners setting out to perform feats of daring

Nobody expected a world record to be set that day. The forecast said westerly, veering south-westerly, so you could expect the promised 9 metres per second straight into your jaw and slanting into your right nostril. It promised dry weather, but when the starting gun sounded, it began to rain.

Although it was cold waiting for the start, spirits could not have been better.

65 runners stood ready at Millum Fjarða, and all of them made it in good shape along the long route out to Toftakai. Not everyone understands why anyone would start the new year so strenuously, but then there are also those, or rather he, who really took 2017 by the scruff of the neck. Sofus Poulsen from Frælsi came from the west and left his car in Hósvík. He then ran a half marathon to the start at Millum Fjarða, and then ran another half marathon on top of that!!

Sofus Poulsen took 2017 by the horns and knocked off a marathon down to Toftakai

It did not take long for the three leading men to pull away from the rest. Eirikur Hansen, Marnar Djurhuus and Cecil Weihe, who, however, only kept up for the first 3-4 kilometres. The first two stayed together practically all the way to the finish. Marnar, though, was some 30-40 metres ahead for most of the way, and he was at the finish too.

For the first few kilometres it was mostly Eirikur Hansen who led, with Marnar right on his heels

The two of them were well clear of the third man, Cecil Weihe, who nevertheless won the veterans’ category. There was a good gap back to Henry Olsen and Uni Svabo Joensen in the next veteran places.

Cecil Weihe is always in good shape, and once again he made it into the top three in the open category.

The winner among the super-veterans was Regin Zachariasen. Overall he took fourth place! He ran with Niels Poulsen for a large part of the course. Niels eventually finished in fifth place.

A daring move. Uni Svabo Joensen “sneak-sprints” past Jens Weihe. Uni won bronze in the veterans’ category, while Jens won silver among the super-veterans.

The women’s race was not exciting. Rigmor N. Arge was a full 12 minutes ahead of the next runner. The cold, wet headwind did not seem to bother Rigmor in the slightest. Jonhard Larsen and Rigmor worked well together and she finished with an excellent time.

Two seasoned runners saw the value of helping each other. Both Rigmor N. Arge and Jonhard Larsen were very pleased with their performance.

Ella Áarstein both ran and fought well. She kept the chasing Bragdið women behind her and secured 2nd place overall

Hergerð Heldarskarð and Ann-Mari av Skarði with a green wave on their heels. Hergerð finished third and Ann-Mari fourth of all the women.

Anna Sofía won her first running race. She was the first woman in the super-veteran category

The final stretch from Runavík via Saltnes out to Toftir was hard, wet and cold for most. The chat down by the quay was brief, and the final sprint was up to Tofta Skúli, where lukewarm showers, hot waffles and coffee were waiting.

The New Year Half Marathon had a sponsor for the first time, and on this occasion was called the Sketchers New Year Half Marathon. The shoe shop at Gøtugjógv gave away a pair of Sketchers running shoes in a prize draw, and the lucky winner was Jóhan Simonsen. A worthy winner, who has run only in Sketchers for the last few years