I caught up with Fredrik Mandt to talk about the Norseman and in particular their upcoming Norseman Charity Marathon. Fredrik is the Head of Marketing at Norseman.
Hosted on Saturday 20 April is their Norseman Charity Marathon event on Zwift. The purpose of the event is to raise money and awareness for cancer.
There are actually two events on Zwift, the Norseman Charity Mini-Marathon and the Norseman Charity Marathon 12 Hour. The later lasts 12 hours and is hosted on the Four Horsemen course, which is 89.3km long and involves 2112 meters of climbing, you can sign up to ride by clicking here. Whilst the first event, the Mini-Marathon, is split into 1-hour rides, so you can still participate.
To get a better understanding of the Norseman, I engaged in a question-and-answer session with Fredrik, here’s all you need to know about Norseman and their upcoming event on Zwift.
1. What is the Norseman?
Zalaris Norseman Xtreme Triathlon is the original Xtreme Triathlon. The 250 athletes start the day jumping off a ferry in Eidfjord (Norway) and finish on a mountain top. There is no prizee money, and athletes fight for either black or white finisher t-shirts. The 160 first to reach the cut-off at 37 km into the run get the black finisher t-shirt; the rest finish a lower route and get a white finisher t-shirt.
Norseman is a point-to-point race, and you need to bring a support team. It’s like an expedition, and it usually gets cold and challenging.
2. What inspired the Norseman?
We only have a small field of athletes to do our race yearly. For our 2024 race, we had interest from 5009 people from 101 countries who wanted to make that jump from the ferry. We use our event and brand to inspire people. Besides organizing Norseman, this is our big project.
3. How long have your events been hosted?
The first Norseman took place in 2003. We created something new, and now there are many xtreme triathlons, and we have gathered many of them under the umbrella XTRI World Tour. Norseman is also the host of the XTRI World Championships.
4. You host events on Zwift, when did you first start using Zwift to host events and why?
We started a cooperation with Zwift a couple of years ago when we introduced the Festival of Climbing together with them. We believe Zwift is the perfect platform to engage with our community and friends during the off-season.
5. You have different coloured jerseys, what do they distinguish?
The 160 first reach the cut-off at 37 km into the run, finish at a mountain, and get the black finisher t-shirt; the rest finish a lower route and get a white finisher t-shirt.
6. What is the Norseman Charity Marathon 12 Hour?
It’s two ways to attend this Norseman Charity Cycling Marathon. You can either sign up for a 12-hour ride on Zwift, or you can sign up for mini-marathons lasting one hour.
7. How can you donate?
You can find more info about donations here. The donation for the project is here.
8. The two different events unlock different coloured jerseys, what are their importance?
All athletes who jump off the ferry dream of the black T-shirts. It`s not easy to get one, so it will be a huge challenge to earn the black finisher t-shirt at this event. Norseman is a break from comfort and glamour, and so is the 12-hour event on Zwift.
9. Who are the initiators behind this event?
Svenja Mann, the team leader from #teamzalaris, initiated this event. She will jump off the ferry on August 3 and fight all day for the black finisher t-shirt. More importantly, she would like to raise awareness and money for fighting cancer. It was obvious for Norseman to support the project.
Summing-up
These Norseman events are tough but not as tough as cancer. The ride charity event on Zwift is particular good as it will give people the opportunity to raise funds to tackle this epidemic, which in the UK now the stats are 1 in 2 people are impacted directly or indirectly by it. So be sure to join the event on Saturday 20 April.
