Finnish duo Peyman, 42, and Sailor, 36, have decided to take a multi-disciplinary challenge to the extreme. Their “5athlon” expedition from Norway to South Africa has six stages and five different disciplines: skiing, running, cycling, swimming, and sailing. The project will take around two and a half years. And no, they don’t use last names anywhere, identifying themselves simply as Peyman and Sailor or by their combined social media handle, Nomad’s Trails.
They began on Jan. 27, 2025, and are still in the first stage of the journey: skiing and manhauling 795km from North Cape in Norway to Rovaniemi in Finland. From here, they will run across Finland to Helsinki and then swim to Tallinn in Estonia.
They cycle to Greece, then sail to Egypt. Finally, they once again hop on their bikes and cycle through Africa to South Africa.
Their only planned support is the safety boat during their swim. For the rest of the journey, they will travel alone. They hope to proceed by human power alone and will camp for most of the project. Along the way, they will regularly stop in towns to rest, repair gear, and pick up supplies. Within these stops, they accept that they may end up using public transport.
The same type of crazy
The adventurous pair met in Helsinki in late 2022 and quickly recognized that they “were the same type of crazy.” Both have done several solo expeditions. Peyman has spent eight years sleeping in a tent and pedaling 55,000km on three different continents. Sailor has traveled to 30 countries. Since their meeting, they have bikerafted across Finnish Lapland, cycled around Kenya, and pedaled from Helsinki to Berlin on a budget of just 300 euros.
They spent first week of their 5athlon getting used to hauling light 50-kilogram sleds across the snow. On several days, snowstorms trapped them in their tent. They started to hone their morning routine and gradually increased their mileage. By the end of the first week, they were covering around 12km per day and had made it to their first village — Honningsvåg.
Fighting their way across the heather. Photo: Nomad’s Trails
They had only planned to stay for a day or two, but ended up there for almost a week due to the weather. When they left Honningsvåg, they faced an unexpected issue: a lack of snow for the skis and sleds. For a few days, they dragged over the heather as best as they could. Then it snowed, and they had a different challenge: deep, soft snow. On some days, they only skied for four to five hours and covered less than two kilometers in that time.
Makeshift wheels for the sleds. Photo: Nomad’s Trails
Finding solutions
By the end of February, it became clear that skis alone would not be sufficient to pull their sleds. They needed wheels. When they reached Lakselvi, they found a hardware store and built a cart with wheels for each sled.
Eight weeks into the trip, they had to adopt a new schedule. While Peyman continues to work remotely en route, editing their footage and creating all of their updates, Sailor has a position with the Finnish Coast Guard. For much of the expedition, she will fly home for two weeks, head out to sea, and then rejoin Peyman. While alone, Peyman will alternate between progressing and editing their material. Their YouTube channel has over 100,000 subscribers.
On March 23, Sailor re-joined just in time for the first big milestone of the challenge: crossing the Norwegian-Finnish border.
“It is once in a lifetime that you cross the border on skis,” she said.
One day into Finland, Sailor discovered that she was carrying norovirus, and Peyman contracted it too. After three days, they finally kept down food. On the fourth day, they strapped on their skis again.
They have around 300km to go until they reach Rovaniemi and the end of the first phase. The warmer temperatures continue to slow their progress. They are continuing to ski but may have to adapt if temperatures continue to rise.
