The 19th Laugavegur Ultra Marathon was held on 18th of July with the sun shining brightly on the 400 runners who started this 55 km trail race in the highlands of Iceland. 361 crossed the finish line in Thorsmork, 4-9 hours later.
All the talk before the race was about how much snow there was on the course but the winner, Þorbergur Ingi Jonsson didn’t seem to notice. He won the race with a new course record of 3:59:13. He is the only person who has run this course under 4 hours. Þorbergur also broke the record last year when he ran on 4:07:47.
Vajin Armstrong, the New Zealand trail runner finished second and Ryan Kelly from the USA came third.
The women’s race was won by USA’s Amber Ferreira in 5:48:47. Þóra Björg Magnúsdóttir from Iceland finished second and Pia Mountford from the USA came third.
The results can be seen here.
Due to unusual cold and long winter the amount of snow in the highlands is significantly more than in the average year.
Conditions in the first part of the race were therefore tough with deep slushy snow but once through the highest climb of the trail there were favorable conditions with a light tailwind most of the way.
Photos : Hrafnhildur Tryggvadóttir.
