Baldvin Magnusson

Nordic Track & Field Championships

Huidovre, Denmark – Saturday 11th August 2018

Kingston upon Hull AC’s Baldvin Magnusson, who was born in Iceland, but has lived in the East Riding of Yorkshire since he was just 2 years of age, won his second international vest for his home country. He was selected to run in the 5000 metres race at the Nordic under20 International meeting in Huidovre Denmark, on Saturday the 11th of August. He faced opposition from athletes representing Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Baldvin, who has been training and competing with Kingston since 2011, had made his representative debut at last Novembers Nordic cross country Championships where he had been the 5th place finisher.

He has been in great form throughout this year, in January he won the County cross country title and took 4th place in the Northern Counties cross country championships. He carried his form into the track & field season, winning the silver medal in the 3000 metres at the England Championships in Bedford. Seven days later he slashed 48 seconds off his 5000 metres time at the BMC grand Prix in Lougborough, setting a new PB of 14:50.32 sec. At Julys Trafford AC Grand Prix open meeting he took 2nd place in the 3000 metre race, taking almost 9 seconds off his PB. He has also kept himself active running for both the youth team and senior team in their respective league campaigns.

On the day of the international, there were very strong gusting winds gusting in Huidovre and it made it a testing race for all of the athletes. The 5000 metres was a tactical battle and the times were affected of course by the adverse conditions. Baldvin took 5th place in the race and ran a time of 16:40 sec.

Reykjavic 10 Kilometre Race

Saturday 18th August 2018

Seven days after the Nordic Championships Baldvin Magnusson was back in his homeland of Iceland, this time running on the road in the Reykjavik 10000 metres race. This was his second appearance at this annual race, having made his debut at the 2017 event where he had been the race winner. This year he was one of 6500 runners in the race, through the streets of the Icelandic capital city. It was another windy day and the leading athletes were again involved in a game of tactics. He ran another outstanding race and was leading the field, but he was outdone over the final 500 metres, having to settle this year for 2nd place. He covered the course in time of 32:58 sec. He was the first Icelandic athlete to finish and he was presented with £215 prize money.

This was Baldvin’s final race as a Kingston athlete. He is leaving for university in the United States of America, for the September semester. Training partner Harry Powell is already over there, both having been awarded athletics scholarships by their American universities. Everyone at Costello wishes them well, we will miss them. Not only outstanding athletes but great people too.