MICHAEL WARD has completed the most brutal iron-distance triathlon in the world. The Guernsey Triathlon Club athlete finished a very creditable 27th overall out of 92 entries and was the second Briton home in the HP Norseman Xtreme Triathlon held in southern Norway.
As well as having the traditional iron-distance legs of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a full marathon, the Norseman involved a total climb of 5,000m as the course traversed the Hardanger plateau and finished at the top of Gaustatoppen, 1,850m above sea level.
This was Ward’s 10th triathlon of this distance and it left a lasting impression.
‘I have done Lanzarote four times and that is the hardest Ironman event. This was harder than that, but I like a challenge,’ he said.
‘There is nothing you can do over here to prepare you for that terrain so I just did my normal training. I use the hills we have here as much as I can but, otherwise, I did not do any special training.
‘I rested for an extra week beforehand, though. I had three weeks off rather than the usual two.’
Ward’s hopes and expectations prior to going to Norway were soon challenged when he talked to some fellow competitors before the Norseman.
‘Initially, I said I would like to do it in 15 hours. But when I got there, I was speaking to a couple of other guys who had originally said the same thing until they had felt the water and they revised it. They said they would just be happy to finish it.’
Those views were backed up as soon as the event started in the middle of Eidfjord.
‘The water was freezing. They said it was going to be 17C, but I am sure it was a lot colder than that,’ said Ward, who had a support crew of Pat Downs and Paul Davies.
‘We had to go out in a boat to the middle of the fjord before jumping in and swimming back. I was later told that two people refused to go in.’
But the Guernseyman performed creditably on the swim leg, finishing it in 1hr 9min. 44sec.
Then it was onto the cycling and an immediate steep climb of 1,000m over a mere 10km winding road.
Later on there were four more steep climbs, the final one being to the summit of Imingfjell, but as Ward explained, some respite followed before the run.
‘On the bike ride, the uphills were hard, but there were 14 or 15 miles of downhill into transition and it was nice to be able to cruise at 40-50mph without having to work too hard.’
The first 25km of the run was fairly flat until the competitors reached the base of Gaustatoppen and the last part of the race was a real trek, literally.
For the last 4.5km, the competitors left the asphalt road and entered the mountain path. At that spot there was a special checkpoint to ensure that the entrants were fit to finish and that they had the necessary equipment in a rucksack to cope with the extreme weather changes.
‘Basically, you run to the base of the mountain and then walk up it. You cannot really run up that path, although the winner did, apparently,’ Ward said.
‘You have to carry a backpack with you with warm clothes because the conditions change so much.
‘It was 27C during the flat part of the run; at the top of the mountain it was 5C.’
Ward finished the 140.4-mile Norseman inside his target, with a time of 14-57.04. Winner Rune Hoydal covered the course in a very quick 11-30.08.
Now the Guernseyman has set his sights on a new challenge.
‘I want to do a double Ironman. I just need to sit down and look at some dates,’ the 38-year-old said.
Article posted on 18th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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