Weather heats up marathon challenge for local runners

Seven people from Terrace and Prince Rupert BC ran the Copenhagen Marathon together on May 22, marking the 50th anniversary of the family’s immigration from there.

In addition to the limited running experience, the group faced the added challenge of intense heat.

“It was amazing, but it was very, very hard. It was so hot!” said Nina Peden, one of the group who was running her first marathon. “The heat was getting to so many people, so you would be running and then all of a sudden the person beside you would be down on the ground with exhaustion or leg cramps.”

Peden said towards the end, her main goal was just to finish, especially when she got cramp in her calf in the final two kilometres.

“It was like having a grapefruit bulging and just pulsating in my calf,” she said. “I was close to a water station so I chugged a couple of glasses of the electrolytes and then I just continued. I managed to finish with that thing pulsating on me the whole time, but there was no point walking because if you walk it still hurts just as bad,” she said.

Peden added that it was amazing to run with so many people and the scenery was beautiful.

Her mom, Birgitte Bartlett, who also ran, said that the cobblestone and concrete were difficult to run on, especially with the heat, but running through the city was very pretty.

“It was cool… but I don’t think anyone was prepared for the heat,” she said.

Family members Sue Simpson and her sister Birgitte Bartlett, and Bartlett’s daughters Nina Peden and Mary Denton and Denton’s daughter Araya went on the trip partly as a way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their family’s immigration. Their parents Erik and Grethe Brørup immigrated to Canada from Copenhagen, Denmark in 1966.

The family group was joined by three friends from Prince Rupert, Samantha Kasdorf, Tanis Palmer and Tammy Palmer.

It was the first time running a marathon for Peden and Tanis Palmer and Tammy Palmer. For Bartlett and Kasdorf it was their second, for Denton her fourth, and Simpson has run over 20 marathons since her first one at age 27 in 1980.