This is one of my best pictures ever. It is from the worlds hardest one day endurance race – the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon. You might think it is heavy edited in Photoshop. It is not.
Picture is taken with a Nikon D50. A very simple digital camera. And a handheld flash. Both camera and flash in manual mode. The skies is natural. Not edited at all. The sun is raising, it is early morning. Beautiful colours as the sun starts to shine through the mountains. The place is Eidfjord at the western part of Norway.
The athletes is comming out of the water, after a 3800 meter swim. About an hour earlier, this athlete has jumped out of a ferry into an icecold and deep fjord. It is about a five meter jump and everything is completely dark. When the athletes is close to the exit ot the swim, they can see the first sign of the sun. I have been working as a medical officer on race for a few years.
From NXTRI.com :
«Norseman is the world’s toughest long-distance distance triathlon. It is also the most northern, taking place at the same latitude as Anchorage in Alaska. The race is a travel through some of the most beautiful parts of Norway. It is not a normal circuit-race as it starts in a fjord and finishes at mountain Gaustatoppen at 1,850 meters above sea level. Total ascent is 5,000 meters. The water temperature is normally about 15.5 degrees C, and the air temperature normally ranges from 6 to 28 degrees C through the race day. The first about 160 participants are expected to be allowed to finish at the top of the mountain. The others are allowed to finish at the mountain plateau.»
The race is 3800m svimming, 180km on the bike and 42km running.
