Norseman Extreme 2010

Another Norseman Extreme Triathlon is in the books and thanks to nxtri.com we can now share a gallery from that unique event.

227 participants from 23 nations jumped into the water from a car ferry in the early morning at 5am. They swam 3.8 kilometers towards Eidfjord (Hardanger) before they mounted the bikes for 180 tough kilometers across the Hardanger mountain plateau. At Austbygde they changed into their running shoes and set out for a full marathon of 42 kilometers. The final leg went to the township of Rjukan before they started the steep climb toward the finishing point at Gaustatoppen 1883 metres above sea level. The total climb of the day was 5000 meters. The winners get black T-shirts and 210 participants finished the race.

Just before 5am in the morning the first athletes are jumping into the cold waters.

Anticipation and nervousness are on the faces of the athletes as the start approaches.

Everybody is in the water and the 2010 Norseman Extreme Triathlon is about to start.

Trying to find solid footing the first few athletes are scrambling out of the cold water.

Time to get those bike legs going.

When your whole body is cold, simple tasks are taking quite a bit of time.

It is cold indeed but at this point the roads are still quite flat.

Just in case you forgot where you were.

One British athlete had quite a huge support crew at Norseman.

Defending champion Tom Remman reaches the top of Imingfjell.

Even Hersleth on his way to third place.

With the bike segment behind him, Tom Remman gets a bit of help getting his running gear on.

This isn't what you could call a traffic jam, but most likely as much of a crowd you might encounter on the course.

Is this Norway or are we on the moon here?

There were indeed rays of sunshine for the athletes on course.

After dropping Tom Remman on the final climb, Henrik Oftedal reaches the finish in first place.

Meanwhile for others there is still quite some distance to go to reach the top.

Women's winner Susanne Buckenlei collapses after the event filled with joy and exhaustion.

What a difference a day makes. Top 3 finishers Even Hersleth, Henrik Oftedal and Tom Remman proudly wear the black finisher's shirts.

The women's podium finishers Malin Lundvik, Susanne Buckenlei and Gonny Rosendaal look also quite relaxed the next day.