GB’s Lucy Gossage wins first XTri World Champs at Norseman

November 12, 2020 0 By HearthstoneYarns

Saturday 3rd August saw the first running of the XTri World Championships, held at the race series’ flagship event, the Norseman. In a change to the usual running of the event, a field of 42 pro athletes were invited to jump from the iconic ferry 5 minutes before the usual Norseman field, to take part in an exhilarating competition amongst the very best extreme endurance athletes in the world to be crowned XTri World Champion.

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Qualification was via a first or second-placed finish at selected world series races, or a top five placed finish at Norseman 2018. Lining up to represent Great Britain were former full-time pro and cancer doctor Lucy Gossage in the women’s race and fellow former pro Mark Threlfall in the men’s race. There was some strong competition too – joining them were three-time winner and 2018 champ Norwegian Allan Hovda, multiple Xterra and ÖtillÖ champion Martin Flinta and pro women Morgan Chaffin and third-placed 2018 competitor Flora Colledge.

Into The Fjord

The World Champs race started after the ferry jump at 04:55am, with athletes swimming the 3.8km in the Hardangerfjord back to transition in the beautiful town of Eidfjord. After a very warm couple of weeks in the area, water temperatures were unusually warm at 17 degrees C and first out of the water was Britain’s Mark Threlfall, setting a blistering pace of 00:47:51. America’s Morgan Chaffin was first in the women’s pro category in 00:53:31.

Meanwhile, the main Norseman race started five minutes after the main race, but saw an outstanding performance from sports scientist, TV Comic Relief athlete coach and former Olympian Professor Greg Whyte, who was out of the water in just 00:48:54, overtaking much of the pro field in the process!