On Saturday the largest annual running competition in Sweden took place, the Göteborgsvarvet - a half marathon running competition in the city of Gothenburg. This year 58 122 runners had signed up!
(It's name is a play with words; the Swedish word "varv" has a double meaning and can mean both lap and shipyard, and Gothenburg has a history as a city of shipyards.)
This year it was a bit of a shocker since summer decided to arrive on Saturday with temperatures up to 26 degrees on the race afternoon. Over a hundred runners had to attended to by the medical staff along the route, apparently about 60 of them were actually even admitted to hospital - mostly due to dehydration or heat stroke...
In the newspapers today, there were all the excuses like "well, the winter has been so long, no one has been able to train in the right temperature" and "the humidity was so bad" etc etc.
Wimps! ;)
When I ran at 5 o'clock in the morning in Hong Kong, we started at 24 degrees (and it just got hotter with each kilometer!) and the humidity was at 88-94%!
Usually when we train here, it's 30 plus degrees, and who knows what humidity...
I gotta give them this though in Göteborg - it really looks like amazing fun! This specific running event is known for it's great atmosphere, and the few, short movie clips I've seen from the weekend's race sure look great!
I wish the timing were better so I could participate one day, but May is not the month to go back to Sweden for us unfortunately.
4 comments:
Whatcha mean --wimps!??? I ran the Göteborg halfmarathon in 26 degree scorching asphalt BBQ for the second year in a row with the result of 1.49.58. The heat was indeed a factor, but mostly it is the amazing crowd of people! Great fun and an asthonishing public who cheered me on the whole way. I increased speed at 16 k to round off with a sprint at the finish line. I'm already registered for next year. But first Stockholm marathon June 5th!
Hope to see you there!???/John
John - I'm very impressed with your effort on Saturday! Great time! (I'll be happy if I can drag myself around SIN 10k on Saturday on that time, with my sore leg...)
Yes, the crowd seems fantastic, I would love to participate one day! Maybe (but just maybe) will I be able to do the Midnattsloppet in Stockholm in August, if it fits in with the travel plans and doesn't get full before I know if I can come..!
Otherwise, I'm aiming at a half marathon in SIN in december!
Well done on Göteborgsvarvet, it must have been a tough one!
Thanks Boel! It was a blast! You would love it! Orchesters all along the way and complete strangers cheer you on. Unlike any other competion I've done! It was a tough one (because of the heat and the crowd) but mostly there are contestants who maybe shouldn't be running who don't have enough miles in their legs....but they have spirit and some dress up in costumes!!
There's a great 20 min film on www.runnersworld.se of the whole race. You can see me running through vasastan, "filmen från varvet" minute 16,14 to 16,20 behind the guy who did the interviews. This guy RAN with a camera the whole race and put the film on runnersworld.se
I'm sure that if you nurture your leg and maybe tape it (coach tape) you'll make the 10 K in Sin.
I don't normally do midnattsloppet, but if you come..I'll register! Later later.. John
Ah, I've already seen that RW movie! But I'll check it out again to see if I can spot you!
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