After a long time in Europe and Latinamerica without road races as we know and with all aspects of the world of running (massrace, ambience, spectators) the special Midsummer Edition of the Night of Hasbergen was one of the first races to come back in its full edition. Besides a pre- and post race party with food and beverage stands and a kids, 5k and 10k Hobbyrun the highlight was an Elite 10k run at the bright night on the longest day of the year end of June.
Vitafit running was not just doing the field selection but also wanted to give some own athletes the opportunity to run again after such a long time. However travel restrictions, local lockdowns and limited embassy working hours can be difficulties which also gave problems to some vitafit athletes. Kenneth Kandie was supposed to run a good 10k in Europe and Emmanuel Sikuku shoulld run his first event after his Marathon in Eldoret. But the German embassy in Kenya was still working with limited staff and opening hours, so that a visa on time was not possible.
Another problem faces the Ugandan Ezekiel Chepkorom with a new lockdown in Uganda which made local transport between the districts difficult. So it was not possible to reach the Entebbe Airport for him. A big disappointment as he was in a good shape and one of the favorites. So the men’s race in the end became a two- and later one-man-show between the Israelian 2:10 Marathoner Malede Bukayaw and Austrian 5k-recordholder Peter Herzog, which was dominated from Peter after 2 of 4 laps.
In the ladies race Giselle Álvarez Rivera could run her first race in Europe since 2019 and represent vitafit runnings team. Letting the Kenyan Puritiy Gitonga running her own impressive race, Giselle ran most parts of the race with the US-girl Tricia Terry. Just after 3 of 4 laps Giselle was left a little bit behind but came back with an amazing sprint finish on the last meters, getting close up to a few steps. A few meters longer and she would have set the second place. So she finished third in a time which is far from her PB’s but acceptable as also she just came back to training after her Marathon in Lima middle of May.
All athletes were really happy to have a full-programm event again and the atmosphere on the course was great. The race was flat but a little bit curvy. An improved course for the next year is already confirmed and vitafit running will be part in both, athletes- and event-management at Hasbergen in 2022 again.