Yngvild Kaspersen (27) was the outstanding winner in this year's PolarNight Marathon, almost 6 minutes ahead of No. 2. It is amazing that a woman wins this race under the conditions of cold and strong wind. That shows a little bit of the strength that Yngvild has.
The magazine Nordlys quotes the silver medalist after finishing with “Pain…absolutely terrible!”. At the same time they mention Kaspersen who trips around the goal area rather unchallenged. Perhaps it is not so strange, because this lady is aiming for the Black Canyon Ultras Arizona, USA in February. A race of no less than 100km! We wish her all the best!
The race started inside Sjøtun school here in Kattfjorden and on the first km the runners could see out towards Lauklines and Håja. After that they ran across Kattfjordeidet and into the center of Tromsø. We stood along the track and got some nice photos of the tough athletes who completed the race. Runner with tag no 4 is Yngvild, who was already in the lead from the start.
PolarNight Marathon is Norways’ largest winter race with approximately 2000 runners from all over the world. The PolarNight Halfmarathon takes place in the middle of the day, but at this time of year the sun never rises above the horizon. In the absence of the sun there will be darkness, occasionally interfered by the amazing display of colours that is so special for this time of year and moonlight. This year it was full moon during the race and that really lightened up the way for the runners.
