With an early rainstorm clearing to leave calm, mild conditions it would have been tempting to think the 250 triathletes on the start list for the 2018 Isklar Norseman Xtreme Triathlon were in for a (relatively) kind day in the mountains – well, as kind as it can get at a race we ranked as 7th toughest Iron in the world. Norseman is a long day up some very big mountains though – so it’s never a good idea to try and second-guess what you might be about to experience…
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220 Triathlon were in Norway this year to follow the race, with Editor Helen Webster helping present the live coverage (if you missed it, watch the full 13 hour broadcast by following the link here) and in the days leading up to the event, most of the talk was about one thing – the unusually warm water conditions. Usually maxing out at a cold 14 degrees C on race day, a hot early summer added to a lack of melting snow around race time had meant the fjord was a balmy(ish) 16-17 degrees by race day.
Early Start
Boarding a car ferry at 4am in the pitch black is still a daunting experience though and as the athletes sat waiting for the ferry to reach the starting point 3.8km from Eidfjord, there was a quiet contemplation amongst the competitors who sat quietly stretching, meditating, or making last-minute adjustments to their wetsuits. Many were wearing thermal suits and full neoprene balaclavas and socks to help their bodies cope with up to two hours in the still less-than-warm black waters.
Taking that ferry jump this year were British athletes including 3x Kona finisher and 2018 Celtman champ Harry Wiltshire, 2017 Celtman winner Chris Sterling and Swissman 2018 winner Flora Colledge. They faced some of the toughest competition though, as in the men’s race two of the best Norseman athletes in the world were lining up: current record holder Lars Christian Vold and 2x previous winner Allan Hovda, both Norwegians familiar with the tough and technical course. In the women’s race, Norwegian pro triathlete Mette Pettersen Moe was sure to be competitive, alongside Finnish racer Heini Hartikainen and American pro and winner of Alaskaman Morgan Chaffin.
After a hosing down on the ferry to acclimatise to the water temperatures and avoid cold water shock, the athletes jumped into the pitch black water to swim to the race start line, marked by kayaks. Their goal? To follow the 3.8km course around the shore and spot a bonfire burning on the shore back in Eidfjord (a very Viking-esque course marker!) that would guide them to the solitary course buoy where they would turn left and come in to T2.
First out of the water was Norwegian Eirik Ravnan in 00:48:08. A former competitive swimmer with 13 gold medals under his belt he didn’t have a clear break though, as GB Pro Harry Wiltshire, also an extremely strong swimmer and winner of this year’s Celtman race was just seconds after him. Ravnan strengthened his advantage with a super-fast transition though and went on to open up a small gap from Wiltshire as they rode through the tunnels and on to the Old Road, up into misty rainy conditions on the wide Hardanger Plateau. In the women’s race Mette Petterson Moe exited first in 00:53:53, less than 5 minutes after the leaders.
Into the Mountains
Above image by Torgeir Storflor Moen / nxtri.com
The Norseman bike route is infamously tough though and as Wiltshire told us in a pre-race interview: “This isn’t a race won or lost in the swim. It’s all about who’s still got enough left in the tank at Zombie Hill”. There were plenty of hills to take in before the final run up Zombie Hill though (more on that later) as five mountains culminating in the toughest of them all – Immingfell – needed to be navigated first in conditions that were getting increasingly foggy and slippery.
Ravnan kept the lead for the first part of the course, but the expertise of previous champions Vold and Hovda soon came through as they broke through to the front of the course and started to show what makes them so utterly unbeatable on a bike course that can quickly chew you up and spit you out if you don’t pace it accurately. They describe this race as the one where you can ‘find yourself all alone on a small bike on top of a big mountain plateau’ and watching the athletes string out alongs the course in the mountain fog, it quickly became apparent why. The landscapes are just huge in this race, although the views probably weren’t enough to distract those at the front of the race chasing the win.
Anything is possible at Norseman though and the sun broke though on the bike course, leaving athletes who had prepared for typically windy, cold and wet Norseman conditions baking in the sweltering heat. With Vold in the lead, the two athletes arrived at the 500m climb to Immingfell looking focussed. In an interview before the race as part of a panel interview led by 220 [follow link here], Allan Hovda revealed that himself and Lars Christian Vold had trained together on the course a couple of weeks previously and he’d identified that Vold had the edge on the technical descent at Immingfell, so he’d spent some extra time training on those roads. It really showed during the race too, as both athletes swept down the descent tucked down on their tri-bikes’ crossbars, aiming to get as aero as possible as they navigated the technical hairpins and treacherous descent.
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Zombie Running
Vold entered T2 first, but with Hovda hot on his heels it was clear we were in for a tense finish in the mountains. The Norseman run route is famous for its brutality. The first 25km are flat and follow a tarmac road, then after that you start to gradually climb with the infamous Gaustatoppen mountain peak – ‘Zombie Hill’ – rising up into the distance ahead of you like some great monster, as if to taunt you with the distance you have left to climb.
THIS is where @nxtri finishes
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
With an early rainstorm clearing to leave calm, mild conditions it would have been tempting to think the 250 triathletes on the start list for the 2018 Isklar Norseman Xtreme Triathlon were in for a (relatively) kind day in the mountains – well, as kind as it can get at a race we ranked as 7th toughest Iron in the world. Norseman is a long day up some very big mountains though – so it’s never a good idea to try and second-guess what you might be about to experience…
Advertisement
220 Triathlon were in Norway this year to follow the race, with Editor Helen Webster helping present the live coverage (if you missed it, watch the full 13 hour broadcast by following the link here) and in the days leading up to the event, most of the talk was about one thing – the unusually warm water conditions. Usually maxing out at a cold 14 degrees C on race day, a hot early summer added to a lack of melting snow around race time had meant the fjord was a balmy(ish) 16-17 degrees by race day.
Early Start
Boarding a car ferry at 4am in the pitch black is still a daunting experience though and as the athletes sat waiting for the ferry to reach the starting point 3.8km from Eidfjord, there was a quiet contemplation amongst the competitors who sat quietly stretching, meditating, or making last-minute adjustments to their wetsuits. Many were wearing thermal suits and full neoprene balaclavas and socks to help their bodies cope with up to two hours in the still less-than-warm black waters.
Taking that ferry jump this year were British athletes including 3x Kona finisher and 2018 Celtman champ Harry Wiltshire, 2017 Celtman winner Chris Sterling and Swissman 2018 winner Flora Colledge. They faced some of the toughest competition though, as in the men’s race two of the best Norseman athletes in the world were lining up: current record holder Lars Christian Vold and 2x previous winner Allan Hovda, both Norwegians familiar with the tough and technical course. In the women’s race, Norwegian pro triathlete Mette Pettersen Moe was sure to be competitive, alongside Finnish racer Heini Hartikainen and American pro and winner of Alaskaman Morgan Chaffin.
After a hosing down on the ferry to acclimatise to the water temperatures and avoid cold water shock, the athletes jumped into the pitch black water to swim to the race start line, marked by kayaks. Their goal? To follow the 3.8km course around the shore and spot a bonfire burning on the shore back in Eidfjord (a very Viking-esque course marker!) that would guide them to the solitary course buoy where they would turn left and come in to T2.
First out of the water was Norwegian Eirik Ravnan in 00:48:08. A former competitive swimmer with 13 gold medals under his belt he didn’t have a clear break though, as GB Pro Harry Wiltshire, also an extremely strong swimmer and winner of this year’s Celtman race was just seconds after him. Ravnan strengthened his advantage with a super-fast transition though and went on to open up a small gap from Wiltshire as they rode through the tunnels and on to the Old Road, up into misty rainy conditions on the wide Hardanger Plateau. In the women’s race Mette Petterson Moe exited first in 00:53:53, less than 5 minutes after the leaders.
Into the Mountains
Above image by Torgeir Storflor Moen / nxtri.com
The Norseman bike route is infamously tough though and as Wiltshire told us in a pre-race interview: “This isn’t a race won or lost in the swim. It’s all about who’s still got enough left in the tank at Zombie Hill”. There were plenty of hills to take in before the final run up Zombie Hill though (more on that later) as five mountains culminating in the toughest of them all – Immingfell – needed to be navigated first in conditions that were getting increasingly foggy and slippery.
Ravnan kept the lead for the first part of the course, but the expertise of previous champions Vold and Hovda soon came through as they broke through to the front of the course and started to show what makes them so utterly unbeatable on a bike course that can quickly chew you up and spit you out if you don’t pace it accurately. They describe this race as the one where you can ‘find yourself all alone on a small bike on top of a big mountain plateau’ and watching the athletes string out alongs the course in the mountain fog, it quickly became apparent why. The landscapes are just huge in this race, although the views probably weren’t enough to distract those at the front of the race chasing the win.
Anything is possible at Norseman though and the sun broke though on the bike course, leaving athletes who had prepared for typically windy, cold and wet Norseman conditions baking in the sweltering heat. With Vold in the lead, the two athletes arrived at the 500m climb to Immingfell looking focussed. In an interview before the race as part of a panel interview led by 220 [follow link here], Allan Hovda revealed that himself and Lars Christian Vold had trained together on the course a couple of weeks previously and he’d identified that Vold had the edge on the technical descent at Immingfell, so he’d spent some extra time training on those roads. It really showed during the race too, as both athletes swept down the descent tucked down on their tri-bikes’ crossbars, aiming to get as aero as possible as they navigated the technical hairpins and treacherous descent.
Advertisement
Zombie Running
Vold entered T2 first, but with Hovda hot on his heels it was clear we were in for a tense finish in the mountains. The Norseman run route is famous for its brutality. The first 25km are flat and follow a tarmac road, then after that you start to gradually climb with the infamous Gaustatoppen mountain peak – ‘Zombie Hill’ – rising up into the distance ahead of you like some great monster, as if to taunt you with the distance you have left to climb.
THIS is where @nxtri finishes
With only two minutes’ gap between the professional men’s and women’s gunstarts, it wasn’t long before Ryf started overtaking the male field on the bike course with a 2:12:27 split. This put her in sixth overall off the bike and more than 17 minutes ahead of the nearest woman. But the Swiss speedster had still more to give and continued to increase her lead over the half marathon until she broke the tape in a new record of 3:57:47.
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Ryf said: “Today, again, I’m happy with everything. The swim was good and on the bike course I was surrounded by men and could push the pace from the beginning.
“The run also felt good without any problems so I’m happy to have invested a lot in running recently.”
At the end of 2017 we named Ryf the 5th greatest female triathlete ever – could she rise higher at the end of 2018? What do you think?
Daniela Ryf’s top 5 tips for racing and recovery
Daniela Ryf’s 3 key Ironman training sessions
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The men’s race
Meanwhile, Ben Hoffman returned to racing at his hometown race Ironman 70.3 Boulder. The American had taken a four-month hiatus to recover from back issues after competing at the eight-day ABSA Cape Epic mountain bike race in a team for Ironman Foundation, as well as walking to a 21st place finish at Ironman South Africa two weeks later.
Hoffman’s return to form was evident as he steadily crept up the leaderboard after emerging from the swim in seventh. By the end of the bike leg he was in third place and within striking distance of the win. First place came down to the wire in a finish-line sprint, where Callum Millward beat Hoffman out by a mere two seconds.
Only a week after winning Ironman Canada, Brent McMahon put in a valiant effort to take 14th place at Ironman 70.3 Philippines.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
With only two minutes’ gap between the professional men’s and women’s gunstarts, it wasn’t long before Ryf started overtaking the male field on the bike course with a 2:12:27 split. This put her in sixth overall off the bike and more than 17 minutes ahead of the nearest woman. But the Swiss speedster had still more to give and continued to increase her lead over the half marathon until she broke the tape in a new record of 3:57:47.
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Ryf said: “Today, again, I’m happy with everything. The swim was good and on the bike course I was surrounded by men and could push the pace from the beginning.
“The run also felt good without any problems so I’m happy to have invested a lot in running recently.”
At the end of 2017 we named Ryf the 5th greatest female triathlete ever – could she rise higher at the end of 2018? What do you think?
Daniela Ryf’s top 5 tips for racing and recovery
Daniela Ryf’s 3 key Ironman training sessions
Advertisement
The men’s race
Meanwhile, Ben Hoffman returned to racing at his hometown race Ironman 70.3 Boulder. The American had taken a four-month hiatus to recover from back issues after competing at the eight-day ABSA Cape Epic mountain bike race in a team for Ironman Foundation, as well as walking to a 21st place finish at Ironman South Africa two weeks later.
Hoffman’s return to form was evident as he steadily crept up the leaderboard after emerging from the swim in seventh. By the end of the bike leg he was in third place and within striking distance of the win. First place came down to the wire in a finish-line sprint, where Callum Millward beat Hoffman out by a mere two seconds.
Only a week after winning Ironman Canada, Brent McMahon put in a valiant effort to take 14th place at Ironman 70.3 Philippines.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
With the dust barely settled on 2018’s Tour de France, it was triathlon’s turn to take on cycling’s most famous climb in early August at the Time Alpe d’Huez Triathlon, a legendary triathlon that we named 9th best, must-do, triathlon in the world and 9th toughest short-distance tri in the world.
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Held since 2006, the Long Course version of the race (there’s also a ‘Short’ edition and duathlon on offer) swiftly became a bucket list triathlon to rank alongside Escape from Alcatraz, the Norseman and Challenge Roth.
It commences with a 2.2km swim in Lac du Vernay, the EDF-owned lake that’s opened once a year to swimmers for the event. The race then sends long-course athletes off on a 118km venture along roads etched in Tour de France history, taking athletes via smooth French roads over three steep mountain passes, before the pièce de résistance, the 21 hairpin bends on the ascent up the Alpe d’Huez.
The 20km run leg is a three-lap affair at high altitude, which takes place on a mixture of mountain paths and asphalted roads within the majestic setting of the resort of Alpe d’Huez.
The 2018 race was won by the 2013 Ironman world champion, Belguim’s Frederik Van Lierde, in 5:59:52, with Switzerland’s Emma Bilham taking the women’s title.
Alpe veteran and Goal Specific Coaching’s Fran Bungay is penning the seven page report for issue 356 of the magazine (out on 6 September) and described it as the “slowest and hardest Alpe d’Huez Tri ever, with crazy hot 35C temperatures and over 300 DNFs illustrating just how tough it was.”
Registrations will open on 17 September for 2019’s race (set for 22-26 July) at www.alpetriathlon.com/en.
Alpe dHuez Long Course Triathlon
2.2km swim/ 118km bike/20km run
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
MEN
1st – Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) – 5:59:52
2nd – Alberto Moreno (ESP) – 6:06:24
3rd – Timothy Van Houtem (BEL) – 6:08:14
WOMEN
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1st – Emma Bilham (SUI) – 6:51:21
2nd – Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) – 6:52:22
3rd – Carrie Lester (AUS) – 6:53:06
Short-course triathlons: the 11 toughest
The 31 best triathlons in the world
With the dust barely settled on 2018’s Tour de France, it was triathlon’s turn to take on cycling’s most famous climb in early August at the Time Alpe d’Huez Triathlon, a legendary triathlon that we named 9th best, must-do, triathlon in the world and 9th toughest short-distance tri in the world.
Advertisement
Held since 2006, the Long Course version of the race (there’s also a ‘Short’ edition and duathlon on offer) swiftly became a bucket list triathlon to rank alongside Escape from Alcatraz, the Norseman and Challenge Roth.
It commences with a 2.2km swim in Lac du Vernay, the EDF-owned lake that’s opened once a year to swimmers for the event. The race then sends long-course athletes off on a 118km venture along roads etched in Tour de France history, taking athletes via smooth French roads over three steep mountain passes, before the pièce de résistance, the 21 hairpin bends on the ascent up the Alpe d’Huez.
The 20km run leg is a three-lap affair at high altitude, which takes place on a mixture of mountain paths and asphalted roads within the majestic setting of the resort of Alpe d’Huez.
The 2018 race was won by the 2013 Ironman world champion, Belguim’s Frederik Van Lierde, in 5:59:52, with Switzerland’s Emma Bilham taking the women’s title.
Alpe veteran and Goal Specific Coaching’s Fran Bungay is penning the seven page report for issue 356 of the magazine (out on 6 September) and described it as the “slowest and hardest Alpe d’Huez Tri ever, with crazy hot 35C temperatures and over 300 DNFs illustrating just how tough it was.”
Registrations will open on 17 September for 2019’s race (set for 22-26 July) at www.alpetriathlon.com/en.
Alpe dHuez Long Course Triathlon
2.2km swim/ 118km bike/20km run
MEN
1st – Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) – 5:59:52
2nd – Alberto Moreno (ESP) – 6:06:24
3rd – Timothy Van Houtem (BEL) – 6:08:14
WOMEN
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1st – Emma Bilham (SUI) – 6:51:21
2nd – Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) – 6:52:22
3rd – Carrie Lester (AUS) – 6:53:06
Short-course triathlons: the 11 toughest
The 31 best triathlons in the world
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
France’s Pierre Le Corre won his first ever European title this afternoon at Strathclyde Park, in Glasgow, with Spaniard Fernando Alarza claiming silver after an astonishing run leg and Belgium’s Marten Van Riel finishing in third place.
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In an afternoon filled with scattered showers, no one was surprised to see Slovakia’s Richard Varga exit the 1.5km swim in first place. Two laps around Strathclyde Loch proved brutal for most of the athletes, with only Jorgen Gundersen (NOR) and Germany’s Linus Stimmelwere able to follow Varga in.
Reigning European sprint champion Varga was first to mount his bike for the 40km bike leg, but was quickly caught in T1 by a group of eight more athletes, including crowd favourite Brownlee, Jonas Schomburg (GER), Pierre Le Corre and Marten Van Riel, among others.
The nine-man group tried hard to work together, building a lead of 1min by the halfway point over a big chase group led by Spaniard Fernando Alarza. A pre-race favourite, Alarza worked tirelessly to keep the gap at a run-surmountable distance.
On the first lap of the run, all eyes were on the two-time Olympic champ Brownlee, waiting for him to make his usual move to the head of the race. And while he flirted with the top three positions for the first half of the 10K, it soon became apparent that he still wasn’t up to full race fitness, slowly dropping back into the clutches of a fast-approaching Alarza, who made by the 4k mark was already in fourth place.
It was then that both Le Corre and Van Riel upped the pace and left the older Brownlee in their dust. Seeing his prey up ahead, Alarza used his considerable run strength to climb into a medal position. With petrol still in the tank, he then set about taking down Van Riel, who lost contact with the Frenchman on the final lap.
Le Corre managed to maintain his lead to the tape to claim his first European title, stopping the clock in 1:47:17, just 11secs ahead of Alarza, who was all smiles in the final few metres, knowing that his was not only the silver medal, but also the fastest run split, by far, of the day: 30:44mins, more than a minute faster than anyone else. Third place went to an exhausted Van Riel, while Brownlee took fourth place and Belgian Jelle Geens rounded out the top five.
“I feel really great,” enthused Le Corre post-race. “That was really tough today with Ali Brownlee. I was really scared of him as he is an opponent who’s really hard to beat. Alistair’s not in his best shape right now, I could see it. But he will be back and thanks for me he was not great today.”
Le Corre’s gold follows his compatriot Cassandre Beaugrand’s bronze in the women’s event yesterday. They will both now be hoping to collect another medal in tomorrow’s Mixed Relay event.
“I am super happy,” said Alarza at the finish line. “It’s my first medal at the European Championships. The swim was a bad swim for me, I had to fight a lot and the bike was very hard as well. But in the second transition I thought I could do this and take a medal but I did not know which colour. So I kept a cool mind. On the second lap of the run, when I passed Ali, then I thought ‘OK, a bronze medal would be good’ but finally Pierre was too fast for me. He was better than me. We are friends so I am happy for him and I am happy with the silver medal,” he explained.
Fourth-place Brownlee said: “I didn’t quite know what to expect today and I suppose that’s about where I was. I have been training really hard so I knew I was probably going to be a bit tired going into it as well. If I can put all my training together I know I can do well. It’s been an awful year and at times I’ve had to question what I’m doing. I’m just happy to be racing.
“I got really beaten up on the first 100 metres [of the swim] and that was really tough. The performance itself is irrelevant, I’m just happy to be here competing again. I knew I was going to struggle today on the run, but I enjoy racing.” He has a few more weeks to prepare for his next race, the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in South Africa in early September.
xResults: Elite Men
1 Pierre Le Corre, FRA 1:47:17
2 Fernando Alarza, ESP 1:47:28
3 Marten Van Riel, BEL 1:47:40
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
4 Alistair Brownlee, GBR 1:48:12
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5 Jelle Geens, BEL 1:48:47
France’s Pierre Le Corre won his first ever European title this afternoon at Strathclyde Park, in Glasgow, with Spaniard Fernando Alarza claiming silver after an astonishing run leg and Belgium’s Marten Van Riel finishing in third place.
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In an afternoon filled with scattered showers, no one was surprised to see Slovakia’s Richard Varga exit the 1.5km swim in first place. Two laps around Strathclyde Loch proved brutal for most of the athletes, with only Jorgen Gundersen (NOR) and Germany’s Linus Stimmelwere able to follow Varga in.
Reigning European sprint champion Varga was first to mount his bike for the 40km bike leg, but was quickly caught in T1 by a group of eight more athletes, including crowd favourite Brownlee, Jonas Schomburg (GER), Pierre Le Corre and Marten Van Riel, among others.
The nine-man group tried hard to work together, building a lead of 1min by the halfway point over a big chase group led by Spaniard Fernando Alarza. A pre-race favourite, Alarza worked tirelessly to keep the gap at a run-surmountable distance.
On the first lap of the run, all eyes were on the two-time Olympic champ Brownlee, waiting for him to make his usual move to the head of the race. And while he flirted with the top three positions for the first half of the 10K, it soon became apparent that he still wasn’t up to full race fitness, slowly dropping back into the clutches of a fast-approaching Alarza, who made by the 4k mark was already in fourth place.
It was then that both Le Corre and Van Riel upped the pace and left the older Brownlee in their dust. Seeing his prey up ahead, Alarza used his considerable run strength to climb into a medal position. With petrol still in the tank, he then set about taking down Van Riel, who lost contact with the Frenchman on the final lap.
Le Corre managed to maintain his lead to the tape to claim his first European title, stopping the clock in 1:47:17, just 11secs ahead of Alarza, who was all smiles in the final few metres, knowing that his was not only the silver medal, but also the fastest run split, by far, of the day: 30:44mins, more than a minute faster than anyone else. Third place went to an exhausted Van Riel, while Brownlee took fourth place and Belgian Jelle Geens rounded out the top five.
“I feel really great,” enthused Le Corre post-race. “That was really tough today with Ali Brownlee. I was really scared of him as he is an opponent who’s really hard to beat. Alistair’s not in his best shape right now, I could see it. But he will be back and thanks for me he was not great today.”
Le Corre’s gold follows his compatriot Cassandre Beaugrand’s bronze in the women’s event yesterday. They will both now be hoping to collect another medal in tomorrow’s Mixed Relay event.
“I am super happy,” said Alarza at the finish line. “It’s my first medal at the European Championships. The swim was a bad swim for me, I had to fight a lot and the bike was very hard as well. But in the second transition I thought I could do this and take a medal but I did not know which colour. So I kept a cool mind. On the second lap of the run, when I passed Ali, then I thought ‘OK, a bronze medal would be good’ but finally Pierre was too fast for me. He was better than me. We are friends so I am happy for him and I am happy with the silver medal,” he explained.
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey
Fourth-place Brownlee said: “I didn’t quite know what to expect today and I suppose that’s about where I was. I have been training really hard so I knew I was probably going to be a bit tired going into it as well. If I can put all my training together I know I can do well. It’s been an awful year and at times I’ve had to question what I’m doing. I’m just happy to be racing.
“I got really beaten up on the first 100 metres [of the swim] and that was really tough. The performance itself is irrelevant, I’m just happy to be here competing again. I knew I was going to struggle today on the run, but I enjoy racing.” He has a few more weeks to prepare for his next race, the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in South Africa in early September.
xResults: Elite Men
1 Pierre Le Corre, FRA 1:47:17
2 Fernando Alarza, ESP 1:47:28
3 Marten Van Riel, BEL 1:47:40
4 Alistair Brownlee, GBR 1:48:12
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5 Jelle Geens, BEL 1:48:47
Seventy-four days into his epic 100+ day swim circumnavigating Great Britain, Ross Edgley is the only man in history to have swum so far, for so long. Speaking to Ross on the west coast of Scotland, we talk jellyfish, tongue loss and a severe case of rhino neck…
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220: Congratulations on setting a new world record, how are you feeling after having swam 74 consecutive days at sea?
RE: Do you know what? Not too bad. All of the cuts and bruises and ailments and chafing, we kind of discovered how to manage all of those now. So, I actually feel good. It’s now almost a case of mentally celebrating a little bit, but knowing we’ve got so far to go as well.
What main challenges have occurred mentally and physically throughout your journey?
We joke a lot but probably one of the lowest points was when the chafing was at its worst – we called it ‘rhino neck’ –and I was waking up with chunks of my tongue on my pillow, I was just in absolute pieces. If you start getting any sort of wounds and cuts, they can just deepen and turn into sea ulcers. These get deeper and deeper until they reach the bone and tissue. So that was a concern.
Your shoulders were tight before starting, how do you rehab and recover on the boat?
Generally, you should look at your kinetic chain of how the muscles join and how everything works cohesively together. If you have a weakness, it will manifest itself over days, weeks, or in this case, months. So, it’s actually helped iron out a lot of bad habits that I’ve picked up swimming. With shoulder injuries, it was more about prevention than cure. So, I modified my swimming technique. Instead of being fast in the water like I’d want during a triathlon, I’ve had to become more efficient instead.
Did you ever feel like giving up?
My thinking has always been: ‘Be so naïve that you start but so stubborn that you finish.’ Honestly, I didn’t quite realise just how hard this was going to be. But even in the darkest moments, I was thinking: ‘Well I’m not going to give up.’ Worst-case scenario is that I’m pulled out by a safety boat, best-case scenario is that I finish this and arrive at Margate!
What would you say has been your favourite moment so far?
A minke whale followed us for 5 miles across the Bristol Channel. We reckon that the whale thought I was an injured seal because it basically just guided us all the way to the Welsh waters. Another of my favourite moments was in Sidmouth. I was exhausted and the entire crew was asleep. Somebody came out to the boat. Realising what would make me feel better, they bought us fudge and cake. Seeing that we were all asleep, they just left a little note saying: ‘Keep going and all the best, didn’t want to wake you’. It was so sweet!
Tell us about your diet, you’ve mentioned gaining weight – Is that deliberate insulation or a fuelling miscalculation?
Haha, it’s a bit of both. I knew that the Scottish waters weren’t going to be kind in terms of temperature. I thought look, if ever you’re going to put on a decent amount of seal blubber, now’s the time. With everything I was asking of my body, the least I can do is make sure I met its calorie requirements. Also, if ever you’re going to be able to eat 10,000 calories a day, swimming around the coast of Great Britain is probably one of those times. So I thought I’d just take that opportunity because I love my food!
What have been your go-to foods for fuelling hard exercise?
Before I started this, I did quite like a curry or something spicy. But because of salt tongue, now I just want something stodgy and bland. It started with just porridge oats. Then I was like okay, get some chocolate sauce on that. Once you’ve done that, get a pack of biscuits and crumble them on top. Put it back in the pan to thicken up, and it’s just like cookie dough. That’s become my go-to.
How do you find swimming in the dark?
The night swims just don’t get easier, especially now in Scotland with the giant jellyfish. You’re putting on a wetsuit, it’s 2am in the morning, and you’re thinking: ‘I’m probably gonna get stung. I don’t know how many times. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. I don’t know what sort of jellyfish it is.’ Yeah, the night swims aren’t great…
What tips would you give someone just starting out and feeling the pull of adventure?
I believe that everyone has something unique that they can do. I’m not a fast swimmer, but one thing I am good at is just eating and floating very far every single day. Getting started, one of the first challenges I ever did was a marathon, pulling my own car. All I had to buy was a harness and some rope. You start small, with something that you don’t need any funding or support for, that you could do this weekend. It [doing extreme challenges] attracts like-minded people who want to get on board, that’s the beauty of it.
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Follow Ross’s Great British Swim journey via live tracker at RedBull.co.uk/GreatBritishSwim and tune in to weekly vlogs at youtube.com/redbull
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Seventy-four days into his epic 100+ day swim circumnavigating Great Britain, Ross Edgley is the only man in history to have swum so far, for so long. Speaking to Ross on the west coast of Scotland, we talk jellyfish, tongue loss and a severe case of rhino neck…
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220: Congratulations on setting a new world record, how are you feeling after having swam 74 consecutive days at sea?
RE: Do you know what? Not too bad. All of the cuts and bruises and ailments and chafing, we kind of discovered how to manage all of those now. So, I actually feel good. It’s now almost a case of mentally celebrating a little bit, but knowing we’ve got so far to go as well.
What main challenges have occurred mentally and physically throughout your journey?
We joke a lot but probably one of the lowest points was when the chafing was at its worst – we called it ‘rhino neck’ –and I was waking up with chunks of my tongue on my pillow, I was just in absolute pieces. If you start getting any sort of wounds and cuts, they can just deepen and turn into sea ulcers. These get deeper and deeper until they reach the bone and tissue. So that was a concern.
Your shoulders were tight before starting, how do you rehab and recover on the boat?
Generally, you should look at your kinetic chain of how the muscles join and how everything works cohesively together. If you have a weakness, it will manifest itself over days, weeks, or in this case, months. So, it’s actually helped iron out a lot of bad habits that I’ve picked up swimming. With shoulder injuries, it was more about prevention than cure. So, I modified my swimming technique. Instead of being fast in the water like I’d want during a triathlon, I’ve had to become more efficient instead.
Did you ever feel like giving up?
My thinking has always been: ‘Be so naïve that you start but so stubborn that you finish.’ Honestly, I didn’t quite realise just how hard this was going to be. But even in the darkest moments, I was thinking: ‘Well I’m not going to give up.’ Worst-case scenario is that I’m pulled out by a safety boat, best-case scenario is that I finish this and arrive at Margate!
What would you say has been your favourite moment so far?
A minke whale followed us for 5 miles across the Bristol Channel. We reckon that the whale thought I was an injured seal because it basically just guided us all the way to the Welsh waters. Another of my favourite moments was in Sidmouth. I was exhausted and the entire crew was asleep. Somebody came out to the boat. Realising what would make me feel better, they bought us fudge and cake. Seeing that we were all asleep, they just left a little note saying: ‘Keep going and all the best, didn’t want to wake you’. It was so sweet!
Tell us about your diet, you’ve mentioned gaining weight – Is that deliberate insulation or a fuelling miscalculation?
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Haha, it’s a bit of both. I knew that the Scottish waters weren’t going to be kind in terms of temperature. I thought look, if ever you’re going to put on a decent amount of seal blubber, now’s the time. With everything I was asking of my body, the least I can do is make sure I met its calorie requirements. Also, if ever you’re going to be able to eat 10,000 calories a day, swimming around the coast of Great Britain is probably one of those times. So I thought I’d just take that opportunity because I love my food!
What have been your go-to foods for fuelling hard exercise?
Before I started this, I did quite like a curry or something spicy. But because of salt tongue, now I just want something stodgy and bland. It started with just porridge oats. Then I was like okay, get some chocolate sauce on that. Once you’ve done that, get a pack of biscuits and crumble them on top. Put it back in the pan to thicken up, and it’s just like cookie dough. That’s become my go-to.
How do you find swimming in the dark?
The night swims just don’t get easier, especially now in Scotland with the giant jellyfish. You’re putting on a wetsuit, it’s 2am in the morning, and you’re thinking: ‘I’m probably gonna get stung. I don’t know how many times. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. I don’t know what sort of jellyfish it is.’ Yeah, the night swims aren’t great…
What tips would you give someone just starting out and feeling the pull of adventure?
I believe that everyone has something unique that they can do. I’m not a fast swimmer, but one thing I am good at is just eating and floating very far every single day. Getting started, one of the first challenges I ever did was a marathon, pulling my own car. All I had to buy was a harness and some rope. You start small, with something that you don’t need any funding or support for, that you could do this weekend. It [doing extreme challenges] attracts like-minded people who want to get on board, that’s the beauty of it.
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Follow Ross’s Great British Swim journey via live tracker at RedBull.co.uk/GreatBritishSwim and tune in to weekly vlogs at youtube.com/redbull