Tromso 21/06/08

The Midnight Sun Marathon was a novelty event offering the chance to run in the Arctic Circle on the longest day of the year and to see the sun above the mountains of Tromso at midnight. It was nice to say that we have run in the Arctic Circle and seen the midnight sun but the expense and hassle of getting there and getting home again took a lot of the pleasure out of this particular marathon.

Norway is an expensive country and one not well served by our friendly low fares airlines. We took a Ryanair flight to Torp which was 150km away from Oslo. After spending a night in Oslo we got a plane to Tromso on the Saturday morning and arrived in good time for the race that evening. The weather was miserable and reminded me of nothing more than a pissy day on the west coast of Ireland. Thankfully the rain cleared and at half 8 we took off on our 6th marathon of the year.

The route was of the “out and back” variety which meant that as we were on our way out of town towards the country we passed the leading runners on their way back. I passed Johnny Donnelly of Saw Doctors fame and gave him a “Good man Johnny. Come on Ireland!” kind of shout out. Although when he passed me again later on in the race my greeting was distinctly less enthusiastic. I was going well until about 8k to go and was looking at doing under 4 hours when suddenly my hamstring cramped up and it was a struggle home after that. I finished in 4hrs 12 and soon hooked up with Alan who had done 4h 03. He told me that he had got violently sick half way round and was vomiting at the side of the road for a few minutes before he could continue. Very strange.

We headed back to the hotel around half one, passing the surreal sight of half pissed Tromsosians queuing for the nightclub in broad daylight.  I got  a couple of hours sleep before getting up early to begin the nightmare return journey to Dublin.

The marathon itself was reasonably well organised. There were a few annoyances however, most notably when the route of half marathoners, who were just starting their race, ran across the path of the full marathoners who were about 13 miles through theirs. Some marathoners had to actually stop to let the others cross them. At around 60 euro the entry fee was also slightly on the extortionate side. Tromso was a strange one. Nice to say we’ve done it but I wont be going back.

Tromso Race Info

Marathon Type:  Road through town and some countryside.

Temperature: 8-10 degrees

Conditions: Overcast /Midnight Sunny!

No. of  Participants: 500

Entry Fee: 60 euro