There was music, joy and excitement in the air on Saturday as hundreds of children ran the CPH Mini Marathon.
“3, 2, 1 – run!” It may well be that the participants at Saturday’s CPH Mini Marathon were not as tall as those who have to run 42.195 kilometers at the Copenhagen Marathon. On the other hand, the atmosphere and expectations among the children were at least as great as among the adults.
Four races were held, namely 1 kilometer – with and without adults – and 2 kilometers – also with and without adults. Before each race, Sparta’s mascot, Sprinter, warmed up the participants to loud music, after which they got ready to start at the large starting portal. In this way, the children got a taste of how it goes at the Copenhagen Marathon, where the adult runners start and finish at exactly the same place.
Among the first children to finish were August (age 5), Oscar (age 4) and their father Mads. And they had speed when they crossed the finish line, even though they had just run a whole kilometer. Perhaps because they had visited SminkePigerne.dk in Fælledparken before the race to be painted as Captain America and Spiderman.
“I think it was a really good race,” says August after the race, as he refreshes himself with the bottle of water and the banana that all the participants are given at the finish line.
While August is talking, little brother Oscar looks at his medal, which he was very happy with. Incidentally, it is a small version of the one that the adult marathon runners get around their necks on Sunday. And the big version is ready for 5-year-old August to take home in his room.
“I want to run a marathon. I can do that,” he says – very convincingly.
The course to the Mini Marathon went down Øster Allé before turning into Fælledparken. Here you ran on a closed course along the tall, green trees, before returning to Øster Allé and running to the finish line to the sound of cheering spectators.
Among the happy runners who enjoyed the trip into Fælledparken were also Kenneth and his two daughters, Molly (4 years) and Abbey (2). They had come from Køge to run a kilometer for the CPH Mini Marathon, and it was worth the whole trip.
“Put on a great event,” says Kenneth when we meet the happy family after the race.
On Sunday he will run his marathon no. 163(!) at the Copenhagen Marathon, and he finds it hard to imagine a better way to warm up than by running CPH Mini Marathon with his children. In fact, it was the girls’ idea to participate when they heard about the race. And it was certainly not the last race they will participate in, they say.
Meanwhile, the participants in the 2 kilometer race, where children can be accompanied by an adult, have started to reach the finish line. Here we meet 7-year-old Aya, who ran with her grandmother, 74-year-old Gunna. At least they followed most of the way, because Aya ran so fast at the start that grandma only caught up with her a little way inside the Fælledparken.
“Next time I’ll probably run a little slower at the start, because it was really hard,” says Aya.
“I was sweating so much I had to take my headband off at the end.”
However, both Aya and Gunna had a fantastic trip together under the blue sky – just like the many other participants.
So now it’s exciting whether the adult runners can handle it just as well when it’s their turn to run on the same asphalt – and further out into the Copenhagen streets – on Sunday.
