The history of extreme triathlon

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Hårek Stranheim's vision for Norseman in 2003 was the primary catalyst for this sport and remains central to our true, basic, unique ethos. It was born out of Hårek's desire to resurrect triathlon in Norway and inspired by Ironman Kalmar in Sweden. Hårek could not find a flat enough course in Norway so he created something far more incredible.

“I want to create a completely different race, make it a journey through the most beautiful nature of Norway, let the experience be more important than the finish time, and let the participants share their experience with family and friends who will form their support. Let the race end on top of a mountain to make it the toughest full distance triathlon on planet earth”. 

Hårek's living legacy is this sport and thousands of incredible experiences.

Photo @komelau

Norseman grew athletes steadily at first then accelerated as media coverage and word of mouth stories increased. However, similar races were slow to follow for several years.

Then in 2009 Altriman in France established itself with a similar long distance high ascents and mountain top cut-off finish format. Then in 2010, Aurlandsjellet Xtreme in Norway started, and remains our toughest half ever at 4200m of ascents. Then in 2011, Oravaman in Slovakia started (later to add Janosik to it's races).

The number of races then began to accelerate. Athletes wanted an adventure and 'next level' challenge but crucially, they were growing tired of commercialised mass participation brand centric events. They wanted more intimate back to basics triathlons with a strong community feel and organisers who were genuinely passionate about the sport rather than brand. 

In 2012, Celtman and The Brutal were started, both in the UK. A year later in 2013, Swissman in Switzerland, Jurassicman in the UK and Snaefellsness Jarnkarl in Iceland were also created.

It was also in 2013 that ALLXTRI was formed. This united Celtman, Swissman and Norseman into the first race series. This grew over time and in 2017 became XTRI World Tour, and in 2019 Norseman hosted the first XTRI World Championships. XTRI now totals 13 full distance races of which 7 have half distance (SOLO POINT FIVE) options.

During these same years the number of independent races grew significantly to a current total of 48 races. Most were also inspired by Norseman but a few evolved from existing trail and fell running races or shorter Xterra style events developing into full triathlons.

In 2017, Aaron Palaian created Alaskaman with input from XTRI World Tour. Aaron then added Alohaman and Island (Iceland) Extremes in 2019. All three races were collectively known as Extreme Endurance Events. Alaskaman became a 2018 prospect race for XTRI World Tour and an official partner race in 2019. However, Aaron stopped all three races in 2020 due to slowing athlete demand in the USA and increasing logistics & regulations. He briefly brought back Iceland Extreme in 2021 but stopped that again for the same reasons. He now runs SwimRun events in the USA.

In early 2020, five independent races formed the Extreme Triathlon Series. Pirene in Spain, StonebrixiaMan in Italy, Austria eXtreme in Austria, Winterman in the Czech Rep and Knysna in South Africa. They promoted the possibility of achieving the five race medals display and website Hall of Fame status which several athletes have now achieved.

The Global Forum (of which, more later) have listed Extreme half's since early 2020 following an Advisors Team vote. Whilst not unanimous it was seen as good for the sport. It allowed athletes to try out the sport and bridge toward the full distance. It also enabled new races to develop their athlete base and full distance courses & logistics. Half distances were actually already in existence and are some of our oldest established races. Then in 2021 the XTRI World Tour also started their own XTRI SOLO POINT FIVE events. All in all, the half distances are proving very popular.

What many people don't know is that Norseman is not the oldest race we list. Inferno in Switzerland actually started in 1998, five years earlier. Inferno embodies our small athlete numbers, large ascents and off-road run ethos, but an unusual distance (between mid & full distance) and brilliantly unique road AND mountain bike segments. So we had to adopt it too.

Whilst there are 25 triathlons with Extreme/eXtreme/Xtreme/Xtrem in their title outside of the 13 XTRI World Tour races, whose official trademark is 'XTRI', we totally respect the XTRI World Tours preference that we do not use the abbreviation 'Xtri'. This avoids any athlete confusion when selecting race experiences and protects the XTRI World Tours hard work to sustain all of their races. Our role within Global is to work hard to help sustain every race worldwide.   
 

Whilst the growth has been accelerating, not all races survived. Extreme Triathlons are not easy to establish and maintain. The logistics and regulations for remote locations and routes that cover large areas are not simple. The economics of smaller races can also be challenging, especially as extreme triathlete numbers are still developing worldwide. We are lucky, however, that Race Organisers are enthusiasts and very often extreme triathletes themselves so have a strong desire to make races work at low margins or even losses to get them established. We therefore make it a vital part of our role to help them by promoting races and giving them advice. Notable races that no longer run are Alaskaman, Iceland Extreme, Evergreen, Jurassicman and recently Hispaman, but we remain hopeful some may return in those locations in the future.

New races continue to start, and we always have more in the pipeline, but Norseman and Hårek's vision remains central to our ethos and design guidance.