Denmark (continued)
Two years later a link between Danmark and Sverige (Sweden) was opened. The
link went from Amager near Copenhagen to Malmø in an area of Sweden called
Skåne, which at one time in the past was part of the Danish Kingdom. The body
of water the link crossed is called the Øresund. The configuration was quite
different. It starts as a tunnel under the shipping lane to Copenhagen and
becomes a bridge over the Øresund shipping lane. The distance was again perfect
for a half marathon run. Bent, Søren, and I ran from Denmark to Sweden. The
upward distance from the bottom of the tunnel to the bridge’s high main deck
62 meters above the water seemed even tougher than to climb on the Storebæltbro.
Bent eventually fell behind, but Søren, who could have easily dropped me instead
stayed with me to the end encouraging me to keep up the pace when I thought of
walking part of it. While we waited for the bus ride back to Danmark there was
no hot wet towel, no dry clothes, and no cold beer. We just waited over two hours
in this large holding area the size of a soccer pitch as bus after bus carried
the thousands of us runners back to Danmark. It took us longer to get bussed back
over the Øresundbro than it did to run over it.