On July 13th, coach Saima and I (coach Milla) got to participate in our first ever Swimrun competition! Here’s a little bit of background for those of you who haven’t heard of swimrun competitions before:
Swimrun competitions are like triathlons, minus the biking portion. However, instead of running one longer distance followed by a long swimming distance, swimrun competitions consist of several running and swimming transitions. For example, the competition can begin with a 6 km run, followed by a 500m swim, followed by a 1km run, and so on. The competition apparel is usually the following: a swimrun wetsuit, which has a zipper in the front (compared to triathlon suits, which zip in the back), swimrun shoes (YES, you even swim with shoes on!), swim cap, goggles, paddles (for a stronger pull), and a pull-buoy (which helps prevent your legs from sinking from the weight of the shoes and also helps give your legs a break).
The swimrun that we competed in was the Kalmar Swimrun. This specific course consisted of 18 km of running and 3.5 km of swimming, and you can see the course map below. What was special about this race was that it was done all done in pairs, so Saima and I swam and ran the entire distance side-by-side. In fact, the rules enforced that each pair had to be within 10 meters of each other at all times. It was an especially cool track, since we literally got to swim and run throughout the city of Kalmar- definitely an awesome way to get to see so much in such a short time! We even got to swim and run near the famous Kalmar Castle! There were roughly 200 competitors at this race, and we were amongst the few international competitors there.
Here is an overview of our race day!
9.00– Check-in for the race begins and a general information meeting is held in Swedish and English.
9.30– Quick warm-up run.
10.00– Race begins!
13.01– We crossed the finish line with a time of 3:01.44 and placed 3rd in the women’s division!
15.15– Prize ceremony begins, and the top 3 finishers from each division (Women’s teams, Men’s teams, Mixed teams) were awarded medals and gifts from the sponsors.
15.45– We explored Kalmar and the nearby Öland for the rest of the day!
Overall, this race was really fun yet challenging at the same time! It was so awesome that we placed so well at our first Swimrun, and I can’t wait to compete in another one!
Written by: Coach Milla
