LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — A Highlands Ranch man recently finished a triathlon in Norway. Not for fame, not for money, but for a very coveted T-shirt.

Labor Day was quite the opposite kind of day for endurance athlete Tim Hola. The day was hot.

Not too long ago, Hola found himself swimming in a nearly frozen Norwegian fjord.

“The swim was 2.4 miles, so a traditional Iron Man swim. As I started swimming I could feel the cold slowly starting to peel away the layers of warmth from my body,” Hola said. That was just the beginning.

“Now you got to transition to bike a 112 miles, which is going to take me 6-plus hours,” Hola said.

Then Hola ran a traditional 26-mile marathon.

“You are running a beautiful part of Norway, around a really nice lake, pretty. When you get to about 15 miles, that’s when the 6,000-foot climb begins,” Hola said.

Hola’s climb actually began here in Colorado, where he trained every day for the race.

“One of my rides was from right here in Highlands Ranch, near Chatfield, all the way to the top of Piles Peak. And that was crazy hard,” Hola said.

At the recent Zalaris Norseman Extreme Triathlon, Hola’s extreme training paid off.

“I was 47th overall among men and women, 41st overall among men, and 2nd American,” Hola said.

Hola did not compete for fame or money but for the coveted black T-shirt given to those who completed the triathlon.