It is hard to say no when offered the chance to run the world’s first subsea half marathon. And that’s why we ran more than 20 km – under the ocean.

As a part of the ferry-free connections project in Western Norway tunnels are built between Stavanger and the area known as Ryfylke. Put into practical terms for travel-minded people that means easier access to one of Norway’s most stunning natural attractions, the Pulpit Rock.

The two tunnels connecting Stavanger and Ryfylke measure 20 km in distance. With a few hundred metres between them and a short distance from the tunnel exit to the finish line the total distance measures exactly 21 097.5 metres, exactly half the distance of a marathon. And that is how you make the world’s first subsea half marathon.

Neither of us are particularly fond of running, but how often are you given the opportunity to run a subsea half marathon? This is the first in the world and the Ryfast tunnel is the longest subsea road tunnel in the world, making it unlikely for any race like this to happen again anytime soon. And as soon as the tunnel is opened for traffic there won’t be another chance to run through it, so this really was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The distance itself of 21 km was not the biggest challenge, but the fact that the tunnels went under the ocean. From ground level we had to run down to 292 metres below sea level, and then up again, resulting in a 5 km long uphill slope with a 7.17 % incline at the end of the race.

292 metres below sea level is the lowest we’ve ever been and this happened just two days from being exactly a year from when we reached our highest altitude in life so far, Kala Patthar at 5643 metres above sea level. That is almost 6000 metres of elevation in difference!

We were therefore quite excited as we showed up at the starting line alongside 7300 other people.

Seconds after the start and we disappeared below ground into the first tunnel:

Starting downhill was rather nice and the first uphill towards daylight went surprisingly well. In this uphill we were greeted by entertainment, a marching band playing for us! The photos aren’t exactly great, cell phone in low light while running isn’t a great combo.

Down into the second tunnel and in our minds this should be easy. It is just downhill, right?

Well, this downhill was long. Very long! Almost 10 000 metres of continuous downhill running until we ended up at 292 metres below sea level.

From there it was only one way to go. We wish we could write how we proudly ran up the hill and victoriously arrived at the finish line in record-breaking time, but the truth is that both of us were completely drained of energy – and had to walk up the hill.

Luckily the nicest people in the world came to the rescue a few kilometres from the finish line. They handed out seigmenn, small man-shaped jelly-sweets filled with sugar and energy. That was just what we needed to make it up to ground level and by far the best tasting seigmann we’ve ever had.

At the end of the tunnel we could see the finish line an after 2 hours and 23 minutes Jørn crossed the finish line, followed by Tora at 2 hours and 58 minutes.

We really wish we had photos of us crossing the finish line, but we were kind of busy focusing on just getting there…

Was it worth it? Totally! Would we like to do something like this again? Njaaaaa…