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Polar Night Half Marathon
Hey guys, I know that this has been asked before, but the previous thread was 2007 and I wondered if there was any additional info around!
What shoes are likely to be best for doing this half? I'm thinking of getting a pair of Speedcross as I'd like to get into trail running anyway, and if they'd be good for this then all the better (and I can justify the spend to hubby... lol).
So, trail shoes for the polar night HM? 
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Does anyone have a spare entry place for the race maybe through injury or unable to attend??
I would be most grateful if anyone could assist and will of course reimburse the cost.
Rich
Just discovered this thread, a bit late in the day.
Sorry Richard, I'm travelling with friends and one of our group is in a similar position. Good luck with finding a place.
Cyrillia - no doubt you have decided on your footwear already. I'm planning on taking my Speedcross. I believe there are clip-on foot grippers that you can hire on the day if the conditions require it. So I'm going to see how it goes.
Hi Lloyd,
I am sure there are quite a few people without entries, and a lot of them Brits; there was 40-50 Brits on the MSM in 2014 which I did on a whim off the back of a couple spring mara's. I just entered on the day no trouble so assumed it would be the same for this
.
It doesn't look like a race will happen for me this year though, as the local running club has no spare places (due to drop outs) and the organisers told me no-show places will not be reallocated. In which case I will have to go back next year to complete the double! Costly, sure but Tromso is nice and we have friends there anyway which certainly helps limit expenditure!
Regards footwear, we are visiting friends on Tromso and are advised if its very cold (like it was this week) then the ice isn't slippy and you don't need anything, just your regular runners. I am taking my speed cross anyway but I use them as every day ware. I had bought some ice spikes (re-useable screw ins) after extensive research of what runners use in Iceland. I have a pair of old Asics rigged up.... but no race to run
.
Basically you probably won't need to use anything, but I'd try half a mile or so on the ski-ways out of Tromso as a test (that's the path, so a true test) and go from there.
On an aside, the weather looks good for Northern lights, so should be no problem with that as long as there is some clear sky; we even saw in late August from our friends balcony with only Kp 2.5-3.0
. If your interested the polar museum is fantastic and cheap, also do see the old sealing boat in the glass building, both very close to the start (they were our catalyst for a holiday around Svalbard during the summer) Also if you like whales, the herring run has all but past Tromso now but on the boat trips there is still a very, very good chance for multi humpbacks and orca. Our primary reason for visiting is to head to Senja to catch the peak of the herring/whales + visiting friends.
Enjoy, Tromso is a wonderful place as are the Norwegians.
Thank you for all the advice Richard.I returned in early hours of this morning having had a fantastic weekend in Tromso. I didn't do the whale watching but a number of my group did and were thrilled by it.
We tried dog sledding and had an amazing time. I agree with your final sentence wholeheartedly.
Good luck with your future events.