Norseman Extreme Tri Race Report
For those of you who dont know it the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon is an Iron Distance race in Norway that swims in a fjord then has a ride that starts with a 1500m climb and a run that finished on top of a 1800+m mountain! We had 2 NRGPT athletes racing it this year and this is David Gethings race report:
Norseman was truly epic. I thought I knew what that word meant before but I don't think I really did.
The race was incredible to start to finish, and I can only pass on one thing to you from this email, if you're a long course guy this is a race that you need to do. Once.
And you need to be really, really prepared. In fact I'm not sure you can be really prepared. The chick who previously won the ladies division the last 3 times in a row (and had race number 1) pulled out pretty early on. On reflection I think that's probably because she knew what lay ahead and thought 'screw this'.
Norway is beyond spectacular. The countryside was just incredible, the people were super-friendly, the women as hot as Jan promised, and the food was awesome, as long as you love herrings and pickles. It's definitely a place to visit even if not to do a crazy-ass race.
The race itself had an awesome vibe. There was none of the chest pumping you normally see at IM races, and there was a spirit and a camaraderie. I made friends on the course who, weirdly enough, seem like I have sort of shared a connection with and will remain in touch with even though I'd never met them before. We shared different parts of the race together and there were some very strong memories formed. And the race had nothing to do with winning or placing. It was about finishing, and helping the bloke or chick next to you finish. I know coming from me that sounds weird. But true. But of course I did finish, got the black shirt, and placed pretty well too.. I came 28th overall.. and learnt that the skandis are a bloody fast and hard lot.. god knows what happened with Jan.
And the other really cool point is that you bring your own support that follows you in a car and meets you every so often to replenish water / food / clothing.. and then accompanies you on foot up the final 4.5km rocky ascent up the mountain at the end. Trilby did a great job and had it pretty much spot on, and it really added to the whole race.. kinda like a team event.
So for the race itself. I'll give a quick wrap up because otherwise it'll get boring. The swim was awesome but tough. The instructions were simple.. "there's a big head wind that's blown the ship a bit off course so the swim is long. The chop has also come right up. But it's ok because we lit a huge bonfire over in Eidfjord. Head towards the flames and you'll be ok." This is coming from the country whose capital city Oslo has burned to the ground three times in the past 400 years. Ok. The 10ft jump off the ferry was pretty cool. The water was even cooler. I found some good feet and stuck to them and all went fine. The swim was quite long and the fastest guy came out in 56 I think. I was 1:12, which was slow compared to IM swim times but I'm pretty sure it was way long.. they pretty much just drove the boat out on the fjord and when it seemed far enough they told everyone to jump in and start swimming.
The bike was brutal. I thought I knew hills and I thought I had a bit of rain training but I didn't know sweet FA. Nigel my coach very sensibly recommended a 28 cassette. I was very dubious about this non-macho choice of ratios. He was completely right. The first 25km was all uphill out of the fjord and was over 1500m ascent. The whole way I was on 34x27 (I couldn't quite bring myself to put a 28 on after giving Tim so much crap about girly gear choices), and I was still pushing upwards of 280w @ 45 cadence. Brutal.
And as soon as you climb out of the fjord it's straight into the Hardangervidda plains. 8 degrees C, driving rain, 30km/h headwind. The whole way. And more rolling hills. Did I mention brutal? I thought it was pretty tough going and it couldn't get any worse. To teach me a lesson the Norse gods changed the rain to hail. If you've never heard hail on an aerohelmet, imagine putting your ear next to a drum kit.. and then having someone fire a BB gun at your chin and arms and legs. But it was all good, at about 110km the hail stopped... and a thick fog dropped in on the descent from the plains with about 20m visibility.. good luck try riding fast in that.
Also because it's such a small and spread out race I wouldn't see any other riders for up to half an hour at a time.. there were moments I wondered if I'd got lost.. except there is only one road up there.
Anyway, to risk going on too much I'll say there was one more hell climb and 140-150km with another 1000m of ascent, followed by a 30km continuous descent that was so frickin cold that my most sore muscles today are my jaw muscles, from all the teeth chattering.. and that was with leg warmers, jacket, hoodie and gloves.
I rode it to plan and kept it dialled in as Nigel instructed (great race plan, thanks man), and finished the bike with a 7:15 split. My last two IMs were sub-5. And 7:15 was pretty high up in the pack.
And hit the run feeling pretty good all things considered. I was in 40th overall at T2 (they tell you as the placing is important as to whether you finish with a black shirt at the top of the mountain, or a white shirt at the bottom). I ran steady for the next 25km and took in about 8 people who were obviously in a world of hurt..
And then came what the locals call zombie hill. The only think I can liken it to is Alpe d'Huez.. it looks kinda the same, except more Norwegian. More pine trees and lichen and so on. But from then on it's a walk. It's a 2200m ascent in 15km of switchbacks, straight up. And it's surprisingly tough to walk up that after about 10 hours on the go. Anyway, I got to the 32km checkpoint, and they said all was good I was high up in the placings and fine to go to the top... Except that there had been a lightning storm on the top of Gaustablikk (the tallest mountain and finishing point) and the watchtower had been struck by lighting and the cable-car was fried.. So we had to continue on after finishing and walk all the way back down. I made some crack about how it was about bloody time because the race hadn't been particularly tough up to that point, and I think the skandi thought I was serious.
So press on. I teamed up with a dentist from London, conveniently also called David, whose wife was also supporting him, and we did the walk together. Walking up another 10+km in cold wet conditions can get a bit boring otherwise. We decided that it was taking too long, so we tried to jog. Then 30 seconds later we decided just to walk again.
Hit 37.5km for the final mountain climb straight up the rocks to the top of the mountain. Trilby joined at this point (support has to accompany you to make sure you're not too disoriented and get lost or fall.. there's no real proper track.. at least not in the sense AFCD would consider a proper track.. just big rocks, or bigger rocks).
I did the death march up. There was no stopping me but I was out of my skull with exhaustion, just one mission to get to the top. Passed a few more totally spent people. And after what seemed like about a week I finally reached the top. It was the most memorable finish ever. They wrapped me in a blanket and gave me the best damn cup of hot tomato soup I've ever eaten. And the most specular view I could imagine. David the dentist said it was like looking over Middle Earth, and he was right.
And we stayed for a while, looked into the eyes of other hollowed out journeymen and women, and walked back down and to possibly the most tasty buffet I've ever had.
And in keeping with the spirit of it today at the after party / ceremony they did announce who came first, second and third, but there was no big hoo-ha or trophies, just a shirt like the rest of us. The real deal was a finishers photo for everyone together.. we all did the race and all those who finished succeeded. It was a really cool way of finishing it.
I included a photo of Trilby and I at the top of Gaustablikk, but if you want to see some more professional ones have a look here:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Lifestyle/A_2013_Norseman_gallery_3800.html
Anyway, I always said I was never going to write a long boring race report, and I've now broken my rule. So on that note it's time to go and break another rule.. I'm in the lounge at LHR and I haven't had a drink in over a month.. It's time to remedy that.
David
At the Top!
