“Dead” man won triathlon

Published: 12.10.09

Haugesunds Avis (Einar Vestvik)

Three months ago, Sigmund Lunde (47) suffered a four minute cardiac arrest. Last Saturday, he won Omega’s internal triathlon competition, finishing in 3 hours, 14 minutes and 26 seconds.

– That was a real bummer, getting beat by a “dead” man, said English native Neil Carlsen after finishing second, 2 minutes and 12 seconds behind the winner. The result might have been different if Carlsen had not experienced some trouble during the cycling stage of the triathlon.

– The chain fell off my bike, and trying to fix it, I ended up in the roadside ditch, says the man who arrived blood-stained to the last stage at Ølen Senter.

Both Carlsen and the rest of the triathletes were full of admiration for the winner’s achievment. And it was not unexpected, they tell us. Lunde himself, though, kept his composure.

– I was told to exercise a lot now. It all happened within reasonable physical limits, he says.

The cardiac arrest occured three months ago when he was driving his car. Had the ambulance not arrived as quickly as it did, the outcome may well have been different.

Office workers and engineers

Omega is an engineering company with 600 employees, with around 80 people working at the Ølensvåg main office. It was among these people that the idea was born to set up an Olympic triathlon. Six men between 26 and 47 years old were at the starting line in Vindafjordhallen, where the first event was 1 500 metres of swimming. During the following cycling stage, one of the participants had to pull out of the competition. The five others completed 40 kilometres on two wheels and 10 kilometres of running.

One of the initiators of the triathlon, Johnny Vik (37), had a big lead on the others after the swimming stage. He still had a good lead before the last stage, but ended third after some trouble in the 10 km running.

– This time around it was improvised, but in the spring or summer we want to try recruiting more of our employees to join, says the winner, Sigmund Lunde. He is also the chairman of the company, and has a broader outlook on this “madness”. Office workers need to get up from their chairs and get physical exercise. This is nothing new at Omega, where they already have a scheme that awards exercise. There will be even more of that after this triathlon, he promises us.