Together with Søren Rasmussen and I, Peter Fredberg was for the first few years one of the “eternal” trio in The Great Wall Marathon. Unlike the rest of us, Peter is a proper sportsman who has been keeping himself going since his youth.
The once “eternal” trio: Søren Rasmussen with race number 39 and Peter Fredberg with race number 40
Born in 1945, Peter has been a journalist since starting as a young trainee at the local newspaper Faaborg Avis on the island of Funen. After that, he was on the staff of other dailies on the island before leaving for Copenhagen and the tabloid BT. Since 1972, Peter has been co-arranger of the Eremitage Run (in the Deer Park north of Copenhagen), and BT’s half-marathon runs in his blood.
Since his youth, Peter has played table tennis, and he has won numerous veteran championships. He is also a seasoned marathon runner. In The Great Wall Marathon 2004, Peter wore the number 100 on his chest, signifying that, after this run, he would join the exclusive Klub 100 Marathon. This is not a club, but rather a list of Danish marathon runners who have rounded 100 official marathons. The following year he ran with the number 60 to celebrate his round birthday three days earlier.
As a journalist, Peter is an ice hockey expert, although he is an extremely competent all-round sports journalist. He has also written books about table tennis and has been attached to the travel magazine Take Off, for which he has been a highly productive writer.
Peter received the Sports Journalist of the Year Award in 1987 and a medal from the Danish Athletics Federation in 2003 for his contribution to fitness running and the Eremitage Run in particular. In 2010, Peter was proclaimed “Bus Travel Journalist of the Year” at the annual Travel Fair at Copenhagen’s Bella Center.
Peter has been Adventure Marathons’ press representative and a member of the organisation committee since its inception in 1998. He has diligently promoted new and up-coming runs in BT, as well as reporting during and after trips, giving his newspaper’s readers valuable insight of what a fantastic experience it is to travel out into the world to run just over 42 kilometres. During the first few years in China and in other races almost entirely dominated by Danes, Peter has wittily and affably presented watches, newspaper subscriptions, etc. to participants, who might not have run so fast but had at least done or experienced something worthy of note in connection with the races.
On many of the marathon trips around the world, Peter has been accompanied by his wife, Mie. On the first trip to China Peter was spoken of as “the running reporter”, and there is no doubt that the best mood description is provided by a journalist, who has felt a run with his own feet. Peter ran The Great Wall Marathon seven times and subsequently half that distance on several occasions.
Peter was always a participant to be counted on in the first ten Great Wall Marathons. Since then, however, obligations have prevented his participation because the run now coincides with the World Ice Hockey Championships.
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