Meet Bent, the Walking Embodiment of the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon

Meet Bent Olav Olsen, chief of community and culture at Norseman. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Very few people can say they have had the privilege of racing the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon.
The race only allows 250 to 300 athletes into the event each year, so there is a short list of individuals who have completed it. The list of names is even shorter when it comes to people who were there from the start — those who knew about the Norseman before it grew into the iconic event it is today, the people who were there when the race was just an idea. Bent Olav Olsen is one of those few, and today, he is one of the most recognized faces at the race.

“A Sport with Broken Legs”

Olsen turned 60 this year, and while he says his days of racing triathlon are long behind him, he is still involved in the community — specifically with Norseman. His triathlon journey began back in 1999. A friend of his suggested they enter a race together, and he bit.

“On race day, he didn’t show up,” Olsen laughs. “But I did.”

He says he had “a rather good result,” but he later realized that the best triathletes in the area were all at another race that same day. Regardless of his performance, he was hooked, and his love for the sport only ballooned from there.

“This was back in the days when no one did triathlon in Norway,” he says. “There were no triathlon bikes available. There were no wetsuits available. It was a sport with broken legs.”

Olsen recalls the time he bought his first wetsuit. He drove to another town and met a stranger at a train station to pick it up. “It felt like a dope deal,” he says with a laugh.

Athletes jump in for a practice swim session in Eidfjord — Olsen’s favorite place to swim. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Triathlon in Norway has come a long way since those days (Norwegians are routinely the favorites to win many of the biggest races around the world), and although Olsen would deny it, his early contributions to the sport undoubtedly helped with that growth. Back then, Olsen lived with Hårek Stranheim, the eventual founder of Norseman. The pair loved triathlon, and they wanted to introduce it to more people.

“We started talking about what we could do to make this sport grow in Norway,” Olsen says. “He dreamt up Norseman and I started a triathlon club.”

The club, Oslofjord Triatlon, was not built for elite athletes, but rather for people who wanted to exercise, have fun and challenge themselves.

“It grew very fast, and it soon became Norway’s largest triathlon club,” he says.

In typical Norwegian fashion, he is quick to follow this statement up with a modest footnote, adding, “that’s not saying much” when considering the sport’s popularity (or lack thereof) in Norway back then. He is likely selling his accomplishments short, living up to the Norwegian social code of janteloven, which emphasizes humility. All these years later, Oslofjord Triatlon is still running and thriving, so Olsen clearly did something right to create such a long-lasting community.

Diving into Norseman

Olsen spent years working to spread his love of triathlon, organizing events within the club, starting races and participating as a support crew member at Norseman and other events. Despite being around for the inception of the race, Olsen didn’t take the opportunity to run Norseman for years. The inaugural edition of the race was in 2003, but he says he shut down the idea of doing it immediately.

“When Hårek told us about this, I said, ‘No way. It might be a good idea, but this is not for me.'” He always followed the race and remained involved in it in some way, though, and after he was given the chance to enter it in 2010, he decided to go for it. “I thought, ‘OK, I’ve been crewing very much now. I should try it.'”

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His first and only time racing the iconic event got off to a good start. “The swim was very good,” he says. “There is nowhere to swim like Eidfjord in the morning, when it’s dark, when the water is like a mirror and it’s quiet. And suddenly the sun hits the fjord and you swim and you see the droplets from your fingers and the light on the mountainside. It’s absolutely a magical swim. I very much loved the swim.” Listening to Olsen describe this could convince anyone — even the most cardio-averse people — to sign up for Norseman.

Unfortunately, the swim is where Olsen’s perfect day ended. “From there, everything went downhill,” he says. “I hate climbing on the bike, and I also hate descending.” There is a lot of climbing and a lot of descending on the Norseman bike course — about 10,000 feet of elevation gain and 9,000 feet of elevation loss in the 112-mile ride. “I think I had one of the slowest bike times ever.”

The run didn’t get any better, but he made it to the end. The first 160 racers to make it to the 23-mile mark on the marathon course get sent uphill to one finish, while the remaining athletes are sent downhill. The uphill finishers hit the summit of Mount Gaustatoppen and receive a black T-shirt. The downhill finishers get a white shirt. Olsen received his white shirt that day, and since then, he has made what he calls “the white course” his thing on race day.

“For those finishing, the white T-shirt can sometimes be a little devastating,” Olsen says. “But they know me. They have met me here before the race and I’ve talked with them. I’m a known face, so when they get the message that they are going to the white course, I will be there.” Olsen says he will walk with these athletes, chat with them find out what they’re thinking and feeling in that moment.

“I do that for those five or six hours, talking with them. I love it,” he says. “We’ll be friends for a couple of minutes, and then they walk on. And then they finish. And then there’s the next person for me to meet.” As he said, for the first few athletes to miss out on the “black course” — those in 161st, 162nd or another close call — it can be quite upsetting, but he adds that “there are not many who are unhappy.” When there are disappointed racers, Olsen will accompany them for a little while to help cheer them up, even if only a tiny bit.

Olsen plays a key role in the days leading up to Norseman, as well as on race day itself. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“My role is a little bit different year to year, but the content is the same: keep people happy,” he says. Because of this — because he’s the guy who can get a smile out of even the most down and dismayed athletes — he says returning athletes he met on the course at past editions of the race will come up to him every year during race week, eager to catch up.

“Deep inside, that’s the main motivation,” he says. “I like talking to people, I like meeting people, I like being part of their experience. That’s the reward for of all this.”

What It’s All About

It’s safe to say that Olsen loves the Norseman Xtreme Triathlon. So much so that he even wrote a song about the race. So much so that he keeps coming back to volunteer his time year after year. So much so that he still thinks about doing it, just once more, every year on the Sunday as he drives home after the race.

“I’ve said never, never, never again,” he says. “And I mean it. And it won’t happen. I’m 60 years old now and I don’t have the energy. But every year, I’m so envious of the people who got to race, and I think, ‘Maybe… maybe… if I do this and if I do that, maybe I can do it.’ I’m always thinking that.” He expects to work on the Norseman crew for many years to come, and he says he thinks he will always have that feeling after the race.

Olsen addresses the athletes at the 2025 Norseman pre-race briefing. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

“Because the feeling of being part of a competition like this, the energy, the beautiful course and all the people sharing the experience.” He trails off here, perhaps thinking of his own race all those years ago, or maybe of a race yet to come. Eventually, he finishes his thought. “Yeah, I will always be envious of the ones who are part of the race as athletes.”

That’s the thing about Olsen. He has understood it — triathlon, Norseman, life — from the start. It was never about winning for him. In his own racing, his work with Oslofjord Triatlon and his time at Norseman, it’s all been about the fun and the joy that it brings him and everyone else. That’s what Norseman is all about. There are winners, yes, and as he said, some athletes will inevitably leave the race disappointed. But his job, the work takes pride in, is to remind the people on the course that they have done something special, whether they’re going home with a white t-shirt or a black one.

Not everyone will understand that. Some triathletes will always look at the bottom line — the race results — and base their enjoyment on that. But if more people took a step back and looked at things the way Bent Olav Olsen does, they would certainly find something to smile about.

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