The inaugural Swedeman Xtreme Triathlon
This new XTRI World Tour event started in Åre, Sweden at 5am and from that point on the 185 starters got to experience strong winds, a challenging course and stunning views. 153 athletes finished this event and Graeme Stewart and Marie Meldrum from Scotland took the wins.
After swimming 3.8 kilometers in Öster-Noren athletes finish at Sweden's largest waterfall, and this waterfall makes a great landmark. This picture here however was taken the day prior when athletes were checking out the course. Norwegian Espen Simonstad who is fairly new to triathlon opted to participate in this challenging race.
The water temp on race day was rumored to be a mellow 16 degrees.
But a 400 meter transition run uphill and through the woods quickly gets the body warm again and ready for 205km of cycling with 2000 meters of elevation gain.
Time to show the muscles – ideally however it is now time to show the bike muscles. Air temp was rumored to be around 12-15 degrees C but the wind made it feel colder.
Graeme Stewart from Scotland had an awesome day and grabbed the win in 12 hours, more than hour ahead of the next finisher.
Cruising through the Swedish countryside. Per Martin Lund from Norway on the way to 10th place in 13:23:40.
Nuno Miguel Chuva Vasco traveled all the way from Portugal to this first year event.
Head down and full throttle towards T2. 23-year old Marius Karlsen from Norway on the way to 15th place in 13:39:19.
Marie Meldrum opted to race on a road bike and that worked for her. She earned the women's title in 14:10:20 and finished 24th overall.
Having the roads to yourself is one of the biggest advantages of racing these xtreme triathlons, as David Chapman from the UK will likely attest.
The run course is mostly on trails and features a lot of elevation gain. Excellent.
Graeme Stewart all alone with nature on the way to the title.
Espen Rygge from Norway on the way to 21st place in 14:01:06, and big thumbs up to that cool kit.
Higher up on the mountain it was surely colder.
What goes up must come down. At Swedeman athletes had to tackle 2 climbs with about 2000 meters of elevation gain.
The female champion Marie Meldrum in action during the run.
Full focus required on such technical terrain.
Simply beautiful.
All images © Kai-Otto Melau / Swedeman Xtreme Triathlon
