5th year, triumph race in golden shoes and sore feet, 1984
The victory-experienced Mats Erixon and Midde Hamrin will have to forgive us. This was the great triumph day of the Herreys brothers. Brothers Per, Richard, and Louis Herrey, who had repeated ABBA’s achievement the week before by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in front of 100 million TV viewers, experienced a triumphant race through the streets of their hometown, Gothenburg. They were enthusiastically celebrated by around 150,000 spectators.
Herreys' Big Day. "Göteborgsvarvet is our greatest experience so far — along with winning the Eurovision Song Contest", summed up the three happy but tired brothers after crossing the finish line at Slottsskogsvallen. But their day wasn't over. After showering, completing all the interviews, and patching up their sore feet, a helicopter lifted off from Slottsskogsvallen and flew them to Copenhagen. There, an evening performance awaited in Denmark's most popular TV show—a dance show on very tired legs!
Per, the oldest, is a trained runner and achieved an impressive time of 1:32:11, placing him 1,828th among the more than 11,000 participants. Richard clocked in at 1:43:00, and the youngest brother staggered across the finish line in 2:01:00 — both exhausted and with painful blisters under their feet. "I would have given up on Avenyn if it weren't for all the people cheering me on," Louis admitted.
First came Mats, then everyone else. Mats Erixon kept a fast pace in the summer heat. The first kilometer was completed in around 2:45 and the first 10 km in 30:10. His finishing time was his second-best ever. Göran Högberg was 18 seconds behind, and Irishman Roy Dooney 38 seconds behind. Midde Hamrin showcased her running in the women's class, demonstrating great form ahead of the Olympic marathon in Los Angeles that summer with a winning time of 1:10:46. Second-place Evy Palm finished four minutes later, and third-place Jeanette Nordgren five minutes after.
A Real Little Fighter. He was only 9 years old and ran 21 km in 1:41:45. It's hard not to be both surprised and impressed by Anders Trygg's determination and performance. He barely reached the hip height of most of his competitors but ran faster than about 5,000 of them. His father, Bosse, followed his son the entire time, from start to finish—just one second behind. Bosse had supported Anders throughout the entire preparation program with 3-4 runs per week, each about 5.8 km. Once, they did a 15-16 km trial run. "I'm going to try to become a good runner when I grow up," he added, implying that he plans to become a runner for Sävedalens AIK instead of a football player for Jonsered IF. Anders Trygg is the youngest person to have completed Göteborgsvarvet. Nowadays, the race follows the Swedish Athletics Federation's rules for long-distance races, which set the minimum age at 17 to participate in Göteborgsvarvet, so Anders can rest easy knowing his record will stand.
The Fifth Edition of Göteborgsvarvet – 1984
Date: May 16, 1984
Participants: 14,800, with a "Norwegian invasion" of 339 Norwegian participants
Men's Winner: Mats Erixon, Mölndal AIK, 1:03:14
Women's Winner: Midde Hamrin, Mölndal AIK, 1:10:46
Start and Finish: Slottsskogsvallen
Weather: Sunny and warm
2024-07-26