This is not for you. This is for Frøydis.

Mother of three kids together with her husband. Engineer for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
Met Norseman from the other side of the barriers. In 2019, Frøydis stood in Eidfjord with the Norseman crew — surrounded by 250 nervous athletes. The ferry slid through the fjord. The noise, the cold, the lights on the water. She saw pale faces waiting to jump and felt the weight of what was coming.

Frøydis (bib 112) on the ferry.
Photo: Marte Thoresen

In 2019, Frøydis stood in Eidfjord with the Norseman crew — surrounded by 250 nervous athletes. The ferry slid through the fjord. The noise, the cold, the lights on the water. She saw pale faces waiting to jump and felt the weight of what was coming.

Something changed.
“I knew I had to do it myself sometime,” she said.

Five years later, she did.
Her first proper triathlon.
Her first open-water start.
Her first Norseman.

Photo: Tobias Gjerde

Preparation became routine. Then obsession.
Cold water. Rain. Long rides home through the wind.
“Everything I normally avoid — I did,” she said. “Because I had to be ready for anything.”

On the ferry, she sat beside another woman. Experienced. Calm. On her fourth Norseman.
“She told me what to do before the jump. We were in it together. Then it was just us against the course.”

The bike should have been her strength. It wasn’t.
“After an hour I was cramping. I turned off my bike computer and stopped thinking about time. I decided to enjoy it instead.”

Mount Imingfjell. Kilometer 146 on the bike.
Photo: Marte Thoresen

She waved to people. Talked to others passing. Kept moving.
“I was fighting for my support team as much as for myself.”

Then came Zombie Hill.
“My legs woke up. My best friend joined me as support. We ran. We overtook forty athletes. One shouted, ‘YOU ANIMAL!’ I’ve never felt stronger.”

Frøydis finished on Gaustatoppen.
Not first. Not last.
Just different.

“It’s tough. It’s cold. It pushes you to your limit. But that’s what it’s for.”

Norseman isn’t about comfort.
It’s about strength, honesty, and finding out what’s left when everything else is gone.

This is not for you.

This is for Frøydis.

Frøydis Varberg (bib 112)
Photo: Sylvain Cavatz