It all started a few years ago when I first saw a YouTube clip of Ötillö. My excitement was immediate…what is this crazy race? People running in wetsuits with pull buoys tied to their legs and then immediately jumping into swim with their runners still on? A bit more digging and I discovered that Ötillö was a Swim Run event held in Sweden consisting of 10km of open water swimming and 65km of trail running spanning over 26 islands. Swim to an island, run across the island and repeat multiple times – 52 transitions in total. Finally a multi-sport endurance race where swimming forms a huge part of the race AND there is no cycling (sorry Casso). Yay! That’s my kind of race!
Roll forward a few years and one of my old swimming buddies mentioned to me that there was a Swim Run event being held for the first time in Scotland consisting of the slightly less daunting distances of 8km of swimming and 25km of running. That was it, the credit card was out and team Glenalbyn Girls had signed up.
The hardest part of the preparation was figuring out the gear that we needed. Under the rules of the race you have to wear/carry the same gear from start to finish. Also, due to the number of changeovers between swimming and running, you need to be able to transition quickly. For the geeks out there, I settled on a pair of Inov-8 X-Talon 212 trail running shoes (light with a good grip), compression socks (dual purpose of avoiding blisters and also protecting the lower legs from brambles), a camelbak (for fluid, gels and the mandatory safety equipment) and I cut up an old wetsuit at the elbows and knees to make it easier to run in (they now make specific Swim Run wetsuits but that was an €500 outlay that I was keen to avoid). I also put a few holes in an old pull buoy and managed to create a device that I could tie onto my leg.
The next step was to practice in the gear. Picture a glorious sunny Friday evening in Seapoint. The place was thronged. Thankfully I had Siobhan Duggan with me for moral support as I sheepishly walked to the water’s edge in my gear, getting plenty of strange glances from the other swimmers. Once in the water it was all good….swam to all five buoys and back. I didn’t notice the camelbak and the pull buoy definitely helped to keep the legs afloat even though the runners were surprisingly light. Out of the water and Siobhan was encouraging me to immediately go for a run, so off I went, hat and goggles still on head, pull buoy on leg. Whatever about the swimmers giving me strange glances, now I was running past smartly dressed Southsiders out for their leisurely evening stroll…it was too much…after 300m I turned around, back to HQ at the Martello Tower. However, mission accomplished….all that needed tweaking was my pull buoy which slipped down a bit on the run.
Two weeks later, the night before the race, and we were on a boat cruising around Loch Lomond. The organiser had come up with the novel way of holding the race briefing on a boat so that we could recce the course and listen to the race briefing at the same time. This was a stroke of genius and we mingled with the other competitors all a bit unsure about how the race would go.
Race day morning and the conditions were glorious – sunny and no wind. Loch Lomond at its best with flat calm water. As we stood around in our gear waiting for the start, I no longer felt like an eejit. I was surrounded by 50 or so similarly dressed eejits, all eyeing up each other’s gear, each team wondering if they had made the right equipment choices. And so off we went in a mass start, in our teams of two, 11 runs and 10 swims ahead of us.
In our heads, we had divided the race course into three sections.
The first part we called the “long swim bit” as it consisted of the two longest swim sections of 1.9km and 2.7km, a short 300m swim and three runs. This was the bit that my friend Ciara was most concerned about, as although she swam competitively when she was younger, she had hardly swam all year.
The second part was the “long run bit” as it consisted of an 11.8km run, the first part of which involved running 3.1km up a mountain and then back down again. This was the bit that I was dreading due to my lack of mountain running in preparation.
We referred to the final bit as the “fun bit”. This consisted of 7 swims and 7 runs, meaning lots of transitions. No swim was longer than 800m and some were as short as 200m and the longest run was 2.6km.
The long swim bit
So off we started, running down a lane and then along a single file track to the water’s edge. By the time we got to the small beach, some teams were already in the water 100m or so ahead, while others were faffing about getting ready for the swim. Despite not having practiced together as Ciara lives in England, I quickly undid the mandatory swim safety buoy which was clipped to Ciara’s camelback and we immediately ran into the water. I put the head down and swam for 20 strokes or so, with my usual determination to catch those ahead of me. Very quickly it dawned on me that Ciara’s lack of swim training would hold us back as she was unable to stay on my feet. Under the rules of Swim Run, team members are not meant to be more than 10 metres apart on the swim. Some teams had chosen to tether themselves together with a 10m length of rope, but as we hadn’t practiced together we had decided against that option. I found the 10m rule so different to abide by, as although I kept stopping to wait for Ciara which gave me time to admire the amazing scenery, it was actually pretty difficult to float about in the water with the runners and the pull buoy. As the race went on, I also started getting cold, so once I saw a few other teams breaking the 10m rule, I relaxed a bit and started swimming at my own pace and I’d wait for Ciara at the end of each swim leg. This meant I had time to refuel and figure out the direction of the next run while Ciara was still swimming. We saw a one team using the 10m rope for their strong swimmer to drag the weaker swimming along and possibly this is something we should look into when we next race together.
First swim over, and the roles were quickly reversed. Ciara was the stronger runner and she took charge, doing most of the navigating. Running along a ridge on the top of the first island, sun shining, looking across Loch Lomond, it struck me how lucky we were to do a race like this. Whilst I absolutely love open water swimming, often the head is down and it is difficult to fully appreciate your surroundings. This race format gave you the opportunity to see the lake from two very different perspectives.
The long run bit
The first three swims done and it was now time to run up and down Conic Hill. Thankfully, the organisers had located a well-stocked feed station at the bottom of the hill so we grabbed some food before we headed off. Both of us were very cold after the long swims and our feet were numb. Although we had a 12km run ahead of us, we left the top half of our wetsuits on as we needed to warm up first. Running in the adapted wetsuit was fine, although at times my chest felt so restricted and it was hard to breathe, so it helped to undo the back zip to relieve the tightness. I found the Conic Hill climb fairly tough as Ciara bounded up ahead like a mountain goat. She was so focussed that she ran within a metre of a sitting highland cow without even noticing the odd looking animal. The climb gave us the opportunity for banter with some of the other teams and the view from the top gave a wonderful perspective of the entire course. It was also an opportunity to see where we were positioned as we saw the teams ahead of us on their way back down. Once back down the mountain we had a 5km run along the West Highland Way parallel to the lake….I loved this stretch…I’m obviously much happier on the flatter terrain.
The fun bit
The fun bit started with a swim over to Inchlonaig island where had to make our way to the other end of the island, 1.5km away. We were told that we had to stay along the shoreline as the island was difficult to cross. Very quickly the fun bit, turned into not so much fun, as there was no clear path and there were constant obstacles of large rocks and overgrown vegetation. At times we ran through the shallow water along the island’s edge and then sometimes when this wasn’t possible we went further out and started swimming. Sometimes it was so hard to know whether you were better off swimming or if you’d be quicker if you stayed on land. Finally, after what must have been my longest ever 1.5km “run” we reached the next official swim point and off we went towards the next island. As we went from one island to the next Ciara continued to amaze me with her dogged determination to immediately get running after each swim leg. She later admitted to me it was because she’d gotten so cold on the swims that she just wanted to warm up.
Finally, back on the mainland all that was remaining was a 2km run to the pub. I’m not sure whether it was the promise of a nice cold beer or just the relief that we were going to finish, but the Irish girls managed to overtake 3 teams on the home stretch. Finally after close to seven hours, we crossed the finish line to the cheers of the crowd at the finish line. The organiser had put on a great spread and we relaxed in the sunshine enjoying one of the last good days of the summer.
So would I do another Swim Run event? Yes, without hesitation. I absolutely loved the format of the race. I have done plenty of long open water swims but sometimes I get fed up with the loneliness of it all. Whereas here you could get out of the water, have a good natter on the run and then get back for another swim. It looks as if there will be some new Swim Run races in the UK next year and possibly maybe one in Ireland. Ciara and I worked well as a team, but there’s no doubt that our differing abilities brought each other backwards. However, we have learnt a lot and are thinking of doing another race together next year. Ciara has promised to get back into the pool and I have said that I’ll do some mountain running…eek! Meanwhile, the search has started for other potential team mates…
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