The story behind - The Berserker Medal!

Are you not finished with your battles after earning the Varjagen Medal? There is another medal waiting! After earning your Varjagen Medal you have to add two more runs. These last two runs have to be Beast (19km) distance. After completing these two runs you have earned your Berserker Medal! But what is the story behind this golden Berserker Medal?

Berserkers are the strongest and toughest warriors of the Vikings. They were a specific group of warriors who dressed in animal skins in order to look like wild animals. Legends say they didn’t wear traditional fight protection, just animal skins! The word Berserker comes from the old Nordic ‘sekr’ which means coat and ‘ber’ the Nordic word for bear. The goal of a Berserker at battle was not only to imitate wild animals, but to really adopt the characteristics and identity of this wild animal. Some opponents actually believed that Berserkers were able to shapeshift! There are stories who tell that Berserkers lived under the protection of the powerful God Odin, who was a talented shapeshifter.
On top of that people believed that Berserkers were elusive to fire, swords and other weapons. This was caused by the extreme lifestyle of the Berserkers. They gained their powers by performing different rituals; living in extreme isolation, starvation, extreme colds and heats. The process of building up to a battle was known as ‘going berserk’. In this process they lost all their humanity and howled all the time while ripping their enemies in pieces with their bare hands. This frenzy allowed the Berserkers to attack without fearing their own lives. The high amount of adrenaline in their system caused them to not even notice or feel their wounds. This only strengthened the myth of the protection by the God Odin.
Those Berserkers were a very extreme part of the Vikings. But if you earn this medal you are also definitely going for extremes! You have completed about 100 kilometres of Strong Viking Run in one year! To achieve that you have rolled through the mud as a wild animal! So you can wear this Berserker Medal like a proud Viking!

The Berserker medal is the last one you can earn by running the regular Strong Viking distances 7km, 13km and 19km. Are you still looking for new challenges and do you want to earn another medal? Check out the Iron and/or Ultra Viking to complete your medal collection!