One Water Race

Preparing for the First One Water Race

Darren Steinbach and Rob Howard / 22.08.2022

The first ever One Water Race is about to begin and teams have been preparing near Stockholm.

Ahead of them is the challenge to run and swim 250km through the Stockholm Archipelago, from the northernmost island at Arholma to Landsort in the South.  There is free route choice between checkpoints and across the islands, so navigation will be key, with tidal conditions part of that complex equation. 

The route is very roughly 200km of running, on all kinds of terrain, and 50km of ocean swimming. There will be 5 stages and teams won't see the maps until they start

Each team has a support crew with their own boat and skipper (who can't advise on navigation), and while crews can go ashore, teams cannot board the boats during the race.  The teams are mixed sex teams of 3, plus one support, and they are racing for a big prize pool, with the winner taking $60,000.

The race will have live tracking and broadcasts at www.onewaterrace.com and we'll be getting news and photos from Darren Steinbach, who is there as media with Team USA ( Jason Magness, Chris Wright, Renee Metivier and Timothy Gorbold.)

Here are the first updates from Darren;

Teams received their big overview maps and more info about the schedule for the start. Teams will now have 30 minutes with the maps before the start rather than 20 minutes.

Boats arrived this afternoon and teams were introduced to their skipper. They will be swapping out skippers regularly to keep the safety level high. A LOT of attention has been given to safety including trackers, heart rate monitors, ultra runners with the teams on every island through the full course.

Race briefing, lots of nervous energy and lots of questions

Before photos were taken as teams transitioned from info meetings to checking out their boats for the first times.

The boats are all decent size and practically new. There is lots of storage for the 7 bins each teem will be bringing with them.

Some teams sorted gear today. Some teams were ready last night and relaxed all day. Some teams (USA) shook down gear again and made last minute preparations. The backpacks Bend will be wearing were made by teammate Tim Gorbold, they hold water flasks, snacks, and any other small gear items the team might need. Tim modified a LOT of the team’s gear including adding front zippers to their cold water wetsuits.