2015 Norseman swim shortened
After the Friday morning swim, the Norseman crew announced that the swim for tomorrow's race has been shortened to 1.9k because of unusually cold 10.5 Celsius (50.9 F) degree water temperatures.
A very cold Norwegian spring and early summer means that melting snow is still coming down the mountains and into the fjords and lakes, making the water extremely cold. In 2011 the team moved the swim to a different part of the fjord where the waters were slightly warmer (and that meant an extra 20km of cycling in the 2011 race), but this is not possible this year as the water is equally cold in both areas.
"For safety reasons we don't want anyone to be exposed to the cold water longer than 75 minutes," said race director Tommy Storoygard, and anyone still in the water after that time will be pulled out by the Norseman crew.
A few hearty souls took advantage of the Friday morning swim at Norseman.
The athletes stayed fairly close to the shore.
Brrr! This was quite an adventure.
A small traffic jam in the Hardanger Fjord.
Yes we are Norsemen.
Staying close to the boat and likely wishing for some gloves.
The whole fjord is very serene.
But what about that 2015 Norseman Extreme Triathlon black t-shirt quest?
"Cutoffs will remain the same at 14:30 hours or 160 persons at 32.5k of the run," added Dag Oliver.
