Alsbridge Europe Director Barry Matthews Completes 2007 Noresman Extreme Triathlon

London, UK - 7th August 2007 - Alsbridge are delighted to announce that Barry Matthews, a Director of Alsbridge Europe, has successfully completed the Noresman Extreme Triathlon (2 -3rd August 2007) in less than 17 hours,

Not only is Mr Matthews the first Alsbridge team member to enter the Norseman Extreme Triathlon, he is one of only a small group of British athletes to ever make it to the end.

The Norseman is an annual event, globally acknowledged to be the world's hardest ironman triathlon. It involves a 2.5 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and then finally a 26.2 mile marathon run.  Each discipline is completed non-stop, with the clock starting at the start of the swim and finishing at the end of the run.

In the Norseman these three disciplines are over extreme terrain.  The 2.5 mile swim takes place in a deep fjord at 4.00am, which Mr Matthews completed in 1hr 1 min. The 112 mile bike ride involves ascending 4 of Norway's highest peaks which is a particularly gruelling challenge due to the cold weather wind and rain. He comments: "I eventually completed the bike leg in around 10 hours and was so relived to get off the bike that I was actually looking forward to running a marathon!"

The marathon leg starts out on a flat road and gets progressively steeper, eventually finishing at one of Norway's highest peaks where only the fittest of fit competitors are able to run.  The last few miles are known as Zombie Hill, as competitors don't talk, are only vaguely awake and simply put one foot in front of the other to get to the top.  Barry completed this in 5 hrs 50 mins to finish in 123rd position out of 200.

Alsbridge Managing Director Tim Lloyd congratulates Mr Matthews, commenting "Barry's achievement is outstanding and we're delighted he finished in such a great time, and most importantly, in one piece".

Barry is already planning his next challenge - an 8 day mountain bike race across Portugal in June 2008.

For more information, please contact Helen Ricardo on +44 (0)20 7242 0666 or email
helen.ricardo@alsbridge.eu