But they’re not looking for ownership of the entire sport -something that has caused conflict in tri. That ethos is what ÖtillÖ hopes to instill in every new event and series springing up across the globe. The briefing the night before is all about not leaving anything behind and sharing this beautiful experience in nature.” “They even have a zero-tolerance policy for littering - you can get disqualified for dropping a single gel. “At ÖtillÖ, they really stress that it’s more about conquering the terrain and having a respect for nature than it is about the competition,” says ultra-endurance addict Rich Roll, who finished the 2017 World Championship alongside former pro triathlete Chris Hauth. With ownership of the sport’s marquee event, ÖtillÖ holds most of the chips in the swimrun world, but they’re most interested in seeing the entire sport grow while preserving its core principles. The first ÖtillÖ events in North America will take place at Catalina Island off the Southern California coast on February 28 and March 1. ÖtillÖ has been leading the swimrun charge and now sanctions nine more events worldwide that serve as qualifiers for the ÖtillÖ World Championship on the original course in Sweden. The numbers are still relatively small, with something close to 10,000 swimrun athletes worldwide, but the year-to-year growth continues at an exponential clip. What started with four friends in Sweden in 2002 had grown to thousands of racers around the world in just 17 years. Races began popping up from Australia to Morocco to the U.S. As the original ÖtillÖ grew to more than 300 participants, events around Europe went from hosting a dozen racers to a few hundred in only a couple of years. Eleven teams of two competed that year, with only two teams reaching the finish.īy 2010, teams were coming to Sweden from all around the world, and then returning home to organize events of their own. In 2006, Swedish adventure racers named Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott organized the challenge into a proper race and invited Jonas Colting - one of the most popular Swedish triathletes at the time. It took more than 24 hours, and by the time they tried it again the next year, it was becoming somewhat of a local legend. It began late one night at a hotel bar in Sweden in 2002, when four friends challenged each other to race to another hotel bar 75 kilometers (46.6 miles) away. Swimrun in the BeginningĪccording to ÖtillÖ, organizers of the Swimrun World Championship and the sport’s most prestigious series, swimrun is “a team sport based on two persons traveling through nature and time, completely dependent on each other.” That has plenty of appeal for old-school endurance junkies-and it helps that the swim is never cancelled. The race is about which team (or individual) can get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, crossing whatever sea, bay, lake, river, island, crag, inlet, or mountain lay between. Events can take anywhere from two hours to eight or more. In all of the roughly 300 swimrun events worldwide, the distances of swimming and running vary. There’s no better example of that than swimrun - a sport that is still small in numbers but is growing at a rate faster than triathlon was in the early 2000s. We’re trading in fast roads, ultra-aero equipment, and chasing PRs on GPS-measured routes in favor of gravel roads, minimalist gear, and courses determined by nature. The way endurance athletes seek adventure is changing. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
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