Jumping off that car ferry.....

pgibbo

Norseman - I know that Irish athletes have completed this in the past but I have never read a race report or heard of peoples experience of it. Anyone got any info or insights?

Watching this re-ignited my thoughts on it.

Realistically this ain't gonna happen anytime soon for me but it's on my bucket list.

catweazle

Theres loads of race reports on it

http://www.nxtri.com/athletes/race_reports

pgibbo

Saw that alright CW, but it would be good to hear how other Irish athletes got on - ones that might see at races on a regular basis or know how they faired in other IM events

catweazle

Ahhh you are calling out Kevin Thornton

tunney

Neil O'Brien did it too, from 3dtri in 2005.

Oryx

Very hard to get in to. Only about 150 foreign slots.

griffin100

Would love to do it but will never happen. Some good reports on TriTalk.

The scandinavian one that really gets me is Otillo. Would love to give that a go.

couerdelion

griffin100 wrote: »

W

The scandinavian one that really gets me is Otillo. Would love to give that a go.

Yeah, one for the bucket list alright!

miller82

amazing looking

handangeo

...........on the bucket list

Oryx

Oh god, otillo. Another one to aspire to.

duffyshuffle

tunney wrote: »

Neil O'Brien did it too, from 3dtri in 2005.

Don't think he ever wrote a report on it, year he did it it was mad snow and bad conditions at top of the climb on the run. He's also done embrunman, he's a good man for ticking off bucket lists!

ironmonkey

I did the Norseman in 2010 and it was the best sporting achievement of my life. It really is an epic journey. I had done IM France before but it was no preparation really. The climbing on the bike was just relentless. The first 2 hours I averaged about 18 km/h just to get on to the plateau and then you think great it levels off but then the wind and rain scream across at you it's brutal. I did a 6 hour bike in France I think it was 8.5 on Norseman. Strangely enough after all that the run wasn't too bad. I managed to catch a few people and ended up going up the mountain to finish with a black t shirt. What a feeling I watched a few guys come across after me and they just burst into tears at the end. It's a very emotionally draining race but brilliant.

miller82

ironmonkey wrote: »

I did the Norseman in 2010 and it was the best sporting achievement of my life. It really is an epic journey. I had done IM France before but it was no preparation really. The climbing on the bike was just relentless. The first 2 hours I averaged about 18 km/h just to get on to the plateau and then you think great it levels off but then the wind and rain scream across at you it's brutal. I did a 6 hour bike in France I think it was 8.5 on Norseman. Strangely enough after all that the run wasn't too bad. I managed to catch a few people and ended up going up the mountain to finish with a black t shirt. What a feeling I watched a few guys come across after me and they just burst into tears at the end. It's a very emotionally draining race but brilliant.

how did you get in ? just the standard lotto ?

Oryx

Reading that, ironmonkey, makes me wonder if I would get up that bike course at all.

elvis jones

Oryx wrote: »

Reading that, ironmonkey, makes me wonder if I would get up that bike course at all.

A new bike might help....................oh wait;)

ironmonkey

I got in originally in 2009 - no lottery just there online with credit card in hand and got lucky. I had to cancel my place at Christmas 2008 as my wife's due date was the 8 th of August and the race was on the 9th. when I contacted nxtri they said no problem keep training see you in 2010! As it happened my wee boy was born on the 9 th of August.

With regard to the bike course I see you are selling the stealth. I bought a SL Pro specifically for Norway and it worked out a treat.

I agree with the idea that this is a bucket list race - but there are lots of things to consider. It's very expensive, logistics in Norway are really difficult, your support has to be prepared for a really long difficult day, and then there's the race itself!

miller82

ironmonkey wrote: »

I got in originally in 2009 - no lottery just there online with credit card in hand and got lucky. I had to cancel my place at Christmas 2008 as my wife's due date was the 8 th of August and the race was on the 9th. when I contacted nxtri they said no problem keep training see you in 2010! As it happened my wee boy was born on the 9 th of August.

With regard to the bike course I see you are selling the stealth. I bought a SL Pro specifically for Norway and it worked out a treat.

I agree with the idea that this is a bucket list race - but there are lots of things to consider. It's very expensive, logistics in Norway are really difficult, your support has to be prepared for a really long difficult day, and then there's the race itself!

You'd done IM France before so,
How much more training did you/should one, do for Norseman ?
How much more expensive than the IM experience (taking everything in to consideration)
is the race itself on an entirely differnt level to IM France ?

pgibbo

Sounds like you're itching to do it :cool:

miller82

pgibbo wrote: »

Sounds like you're itching to do it :cool:

its crossed my mind :P but not for another 3 years

Oryx

miller82 wrote: »

its crossed my mind :P but not for another 3 years

What happens in the three years?

ChickenBalls

miller82 wrote: »

You'd done IM France before so,
How much more training did you/should one, do for Norseman ?
How much more expensive than the IM experience (taking everything in to consideration)
is the race itself on an entirely differnt level to IM France ?

Regards expense in Norway I travel to Oslo 2/3 times a year with work and in my opinion it's the most expensive country (without researching on line to back this up) in the world! €12 for a pint of local beer - hotels start around €180 minimum a night - eating out is about €40/50 a head if your lucky. Sometimes I take a local cab to the office which is only 8km and that cost €40! I ran in a few times after that . The amount of people I see cycling along the way I thought there was a race on - at least 3/400 on my run route - apparently it's the cheapest mode of transport a lot using the public bikes - buses are about €8 but one Irish guy who I met living there said he never pays on the bus as conductors rarely check For Norseman I'd imagine the train is the way to go - my experience with them is that their very very fast! Oslo airport is actually 50 km from the city but only takes 15 minutes to get there and costs I think €30 or so one way. Probably gone a little off topic but this gives you an idea of how expensive Norway really is. Start saving!

miller82

Oryx wrote: »

What happens in the three years?

defo not doing an IM next year and want to do IM Austria the year after.

ChickenBalls

miller82 wrote: »

defo not doing an IM next year and want to do IM Austria the year after.

That's my plan too! Did one 70.3 a few weeks back(Skerries) to see what the fuss was about and realised that a full IM is gonna take alot of training - we should probably be aiming for 2 or 3 70.3's next year thou and Dublin Marathon.

Oryx

A marathon in prep for IM is good for the mind, but the body not so much. An IM marathon is very different from standalone.

Having read ironmonkey above, I'm rethinking my norseman goal. I think another few tougher (faster) IMs would be the way to go. No point going all that way and coming home with a white teeshirt.

peter kern

does black t shirt mean triathlete and white you are not a triathlete ;-)

ironmonkey

In terms of expense inclusive of entry fee I would conservatively estimate that IMUK in 2007 cost me about 1200 that's accommodation for two nights, ferry over, grub and incidentals.
IM France in 2008 probably cost 1400 we stayed for an extra night for flights and then things were marginally more expensive.
Norway is just different. When we arrived the car hire place said they had no cars left, after two hours of having my confirmation email around a mate of mine in Ireland organised a car in Voss. We had to take an overnight train it was a mess. Funnily enough accommodation was cheap where we were in Eidfjord but otherwise than that if you scratch your arse you get charged a fortune. I'd say Norseman just for me cost e2000. Then you have to pick up the tab for certain things for your support crew.
Still though the race is an absolute epic compared to the razz of brand IM this is a small boutique race with loads of character and a course designed by a sadist. A sadist with an eye for inspirational geography. Also as much as Norway drove me mad the people are brilliant.

n-dawg

For something a little bit closer to home:

http://www.cxtri.com/

Its modeled on the Norseman but based in the north of Scotland.

pgibbo

n-dawg wrote: »

For something a little bit closer to home:

http://www.cxtri.com/

Its modeled on the Norseman but based in the north of Scotland.

Shame it's missing "Jumping off that Ferry"......

Izoard

Oryx wrote: »

A marathon in prep for IM is good for the mind, but the body not so much. An IM marathon is very different from standalone.

Having read ironmonkey above, I'm rethinking my norseman goal. I think another few tougher (faster) IMs would be the way to go. No point going all that way and coming home with a white teeshirt.

Ah here...

Finishing that beast would be an achievement...

pgibbo

A nice 3 on a race debut:

1 2 3

It will be interesting to see how he does next year