On Saturday 17th May, Adam Higgins represented Newport & District Running Club at Göteborgsvarvet (Gothenburg Half Marathon) Sweden, it is the largest annual running competition in the world in terms of participants, with 62,000 people taking part in 2025. This was a special occasion, as not only was it Adam’s birthday, it was the 45th anniversary of the Gothenburg Half Marathon adding to the atmosphere and superb occasion.
Adam and his wife, Sophie, set off from Stansted Airport on Friday morning, a short 1 hour 40 minute flight. They reached Gothenburg and spent the afternoon sightseeing, collecting the race bib from the expo centre, and indulging in the Swedish tradition ‘Fika’ (a ritual of taking a break, socialising and enjoying a coffee with a sweet treat) in the beautiful old town ‘Haga’.
After a good night’s sleep in a local Airbnb, on Saturday morning they walked 5km through the city to the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens, to spend an hour or so relaxing, before making their way over to the race start area just after lunch. The sun was shining with temperatures around 19-20 degrees – perfect!
The race starts outside, and finishes in, the old athletics arena Slottsskogsvallen in the Slottsskogen park, with the first waves setting off at 1:00pm. Adam was in wave 16, so had some time to soak up the atmosphere until he started at 2:55pm.
The race takes off northwards over the large suspension bridge Älvsborg Bridge, follows the north bank of the Göta älv river, and returns over Hisingen Bridge, goes through the beautiful inner city with its cobbled streets, before reaching the finish line on the old athletics track back in the park.
There was huge amount of support along the route with over 200,000 people expected to line the street, 50 music stations got everyone pumped up, along with many other activities en route – at one station, pints of Carlsberg were being handed out, but Adam passed on that ‘liquid’ station offering on this occasion.
Adam crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 33 seconds, which earned him a PB and an overall position of 6,960th. A quick change and tram journey back into the city for a celebratory meal and beer, before returning to the UK on Sunday morning, which Adam described afterwards as a “superb weekend”!
Newport & District Running Club 