Odyssey SwimRun Virtual Challenge

HISTORY

Swimrun was born out of a crazy beer bet. Four friends - Anders Malm, Janne Lindberg, and the Andersson brothers - challenged one another to race from the island of Utö to the island of Sandhamm. The first team to the restaurant at the finish could order whatever they wanted and the other team would pick up the tab. 26 hours later upon arrival, both teams were too tired to eat or drink anything.

The men reached out to their friends Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott in 2006 about turning their bet into a commercial race. They agreed and ÖTILLÖ (Island to Island in Swedish) was born. Click here to learn more about the fascinating origins of this crazy sport.

ÖTILLÖ is the race that started the sport and is considered to be the Wimbledon of Swimruns. ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship, held in the Stockholm, Sweden archipelago each year, has often been ranked alongside some of the most iconic toughest endurance races in the world.

Swimrun got the name from Erika Rosenbaum, one of the consistent ÖTILLÖ racers. It is most often raced as a team sport with two people, with both racers alternating between running and swimming legs along a pre-marked course. It can be between islands or between lakes. As a team you race within 30-feet of one other and you share the entire experience with one another. In recent years a solo category was added so athletes may choose to race without a teammate.

Above text mostly borrowed from otilloswimrun.com

WHO IS ODYSSEY SWIMRUN?

Odyssey SwimRun is an American SwimRun Production company. We were the first ones to bring the sport to America and have the longest standing race in the USA, Odyssey Casco Bay Islands outside of Portland, Maine. Since the inception of that original race in North America we have expanded with additional races in Cedarville, Michigan (Les Cheneaux Islands), The San Juan Islands, Washington State (Orcas Island), and at Pace Bend Park just outside of Austin, Texas. We offer both short and long course race options to both teams and solo racers wishing to tackle the challenge.

WHY VIRTUAL?

Given the current landscape of endurance sports it only makes sense to have a virtual option and to provide an endurance challenge for our community to rally around. Not only does it give you choices in the event of a Pandemic/Act of God but it also gives us a tool to introduce people to the sport of Swimrun. In order for any sport to stand the test of time a healthy pipeline of new athletes must be established and having a virtual option is a way for interested athletes to ease into the sport in a stress free causal way on their own schedule. Once completed our hope is that virtual athletes will want to join us for live events in the future.
 

ENTRY FEE

$100 Per Athlete

DISTANCES

Swimming (Total) - 9,545-meters or 9.545-kilometers
Running (Total) - 65.14-kilometers
These are the exact totals of both swimming and running that’s completed by each athlete as part of a team during the Swimrun World Championship in Sweden.

RULES 

Registration - Each athlete registers individually.

Solo/Team - Athletes may complete the total swimming and running distances on their own or with a partner (or group) if they wish. Despite how many people participate together, each athlete is responsible for completing the entire distance. This is not a relay.

About Distance Accumulation - You may choose to tackle the distances all in one day just like the actual World Championships or you can break it up into multiple workouts that add up to the desired distance. We don’t care how you total up the required distances as long as you put in the work and get it done. It can take you one day or the entire 5 months we are allowing.

Indoor/Outdoor - Workouts can all be done indoor or outdoor or a mixture of both.

Safety - You are doing this if your own free will and are 100% responsible for your own safety. We highly recommend that when swimming in open water you do so in public areas that allow OWS and that are free of motorboats. We do not condone workouts done without permission on private land in private lakes. We also recommend the use of brightly colored swim caps and personal flotation devices like the New Wave Swim Buoy and we never recommenced swimming in open water alone (additional swimmer or someone following in a kayak/canoe).

Course - Part of the fun of this virtual challenge is coming up with interesting ways to complete the distance. Obviously finding bodies of water and land that allow you to do the full distance in one day will be very tough. We fully expect that a vast majority will knock out some of the distance(s) in a pool and on a treadmill or track. That being said, we challenge you to map out and create safe fun course that is comprised of at least a good portion of the required distance so you can at least get a taste of what SwimRun is all about. Beyond promoting a fun, active and healthy lifestyle our goal is to open more and more people up to the world of SwimRun and hopefully get them interested in doing live events in the United States and around the world. So take the time to at least plot out a portion of the distance(s) on a real map with OWS and trail/pavement running to get a feel for what it is like.

Submitting Results & Eligiblity - June 8 - Nov 30 11:59pm US-PST - Each athlete must submit proof of the completion of each total distance before Nov 30, 11:59pm US-PST, 2020. Those failing to do so will not be eligible to be listed as finishers nor will they receive the finisher’s item they selected during registration. All results submitted must be done via our online submission system in run signup. To submit your results click the button below. You can submit them all at once or as you complete them and they compile showing your total distance and time as you go.

Refunds/Transfers/Deferrals - No Refunds, No Deferrals. You may transfer out of the virtual event into a live event and you will pay the difference between the $100 virtual fee you already paid and however much more the live race you are transferring into costs. You can only transfer out of virtual and into a live event if you have not uploaded your results for virtual. To transfer simply login to your RunSignup account and manage your registration. From there you should be able to transfer and pay the difference.