The City
AKUREYRI, ICELAND
Akureyri is Iceland’s second-biggest city and home to the tournament I played in. Like everywhere else in Iceland, it is a spectacularly beautiful town with snow capped mountains and a gorgeous Lagoon which is as refreshing as it sounds.
The Run
My plan is to always play on outdoor courts on this challenge, however, this particular run was an all-day tournament that is a regular event on the Akureyri calendar and was held indoors. Ironically, the weather outside during my time there was what I believe are perfect conditions for open-air basketball: around 14c and bright skies, however I had to accept that I wasn’t going to be playing under my preferred conditions. There was a big turnout of men and women and I was really suprised (and impressed) at just how good the standard of play was. Basketball isn’t the first sport I associate with Iceland, but it’s second only to football (soccer) in the country.
The Star
My man SiggiOrr was the star of this run. He’s a multi-talented star. On the four hour drive from Reykjavik to Akureyri, Siggi kept me and our two other car mates entertained non-stop by playing the guitar and singing classic after classic. Not only that, Siggi was a very good player, and a lot of fun to be teammates with. Somehow, he was able to play whilst juggling downing a few beers in between games.
