The Norwegian, Tom Remman took command from the very first stroke and refused to yield to any of his competitors throughout the race. His winning time was 11:19:48.
Henrik Oftedal came in second place with 11:22:58, and the German
Daniel Blankenfuland came in third with 11:43:58.
The German Susan Buckenlei won the ladies’ race.
The people behind the arrangement claim that not only is it the toughest Triathlon race in the world, but also the toughest competition one day race regardless of sports. This year’s race was performed under very good, but windy conditions.
229 participants from 23 nations jumped into the water from a car ferry early this morning 0500 hours. They swam 3.8 kilometres towards Eidfjord (Hardanger) before they mounted the bikes for 180 steep kilometres across the Hardanger Mountain Plateau. At Austbygde they changed into their running shoes and set out for a full marathon of 42 kilometres. 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 metres. The winner got a black T-shirt!
