ÖTILLÖ – The Swimrun World Championship

Press Release / 06.03.2015

ÖTILLÖ, the original and toughest race of the fast growing endurance sport "swimrun", celebrates its 10th anniversary September 7, 2015. The 75 km gruelling race of trail running and open water swimming over and between 26 islands, in the stunning Stockholm archipelago, started off as a crazy bet between four friends and has in ten years grown to unexpected heights. ÖTILLÖ is now titled the Swimrun World Championship. It is one of the most prestigious one-day races on earth, ranked by CNN as one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world. The 120 desirable ÖTILLÖ team spots have become very exclusive, with a waiting list of over 550 teams from all over the world. With the high demand the organizers now arrange spectacular qualifying races, training camps and a whole swimrun movement is in the making.

"We are humbled and honoured by the growth of this sport and the popularity of the race. In ten years time it has gone from a small, obscure race to being one of the most prestigious endurance events of the year. The pace on the race course just gets faster and faster and last year the course record was crushed in all three categories, men, mixed, and women, showing that the sport is evolving every year. We now have qualifiers to ÖTILLÖ and in Sweden there are more than 40 smaller swimrun competitions catering for the fast growing popularity of the sport both amongst professional athletes and ambitious amateurs. We look forward to continuing pushing the sport forward," said race directors and founders Mats Skott and Michael Lemmel. Skott and Lemmel are former professional multisport athletes and the backbone of the first Scandinavian adventure racing team for over ten years.

The sport of swimrun is Sweden's second fastest growing sport and the word is spreading rapidly on the international scene. With the growing demand, ÖTILLÖ organizers have developed a whole new range of events, including qualifiers, sprint races and training camps:

- The qualifying series for ÖTILLÖ: Utö Swimrun (May 31, SWE), Engadin Swimrun (July 11, CH), "XX Swimrun 2015" (soon to be announced), and 3-4 new races around the globe in the near future.

- ÖTILLÖ Sprint: Shorter races the day before or after qualifier races, opening for a wider range of participants. For 2015: ÖTILLÖ Sprint at Utö (easy 13 km) the day prior to Utö Swimrun (37 km).

- ÖTILLÖ Training Sprint: Short training races, organized several times a year at various locations.

- ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Training Camps: Training Camps at beautiful locations in cooperation with Apollo travel agency.

- Partner Races: Cooperation with other swimrun races where the winners qualify to ÖTILLÖ. For 2015: Höga Kusten Swimrun, August 18.

ÖTILLÖ is on the bucket list for many endurance athletes and the word is spreading. For the tenth edition there will be some interesting profiles on the start line, including the outstanding ultra runner and UTMB-winnner (Ultra Raid de Mont Blanc – 166 km trail running) Rory Bosio of Canada, competing in the mixed class with US ultra runner Paul Trebilcock. Will she manage the tough swim sections in the cold Baltic sea? England's Pippa Middleton has built up an extensive experience of endurance racing over the last years and is ready to take on the challenge in the mixed class with Swede Jöns Bartholdson. How will double Hawaii Ironman winner Luc Van Lierde of Belgium do on tough trails and cold open water, competing with triathlete veteran Jan Syryn? Sweden's biggest rap artist Petter will once again push his limits against an impressive line up, this year racing with his wife Michaela Fröstad Askergren. Last year's winners and course record holders in all three categories Moberg & Hansson (men), Eriksson & Udehn (mixed), Nordblom & Nilsson (women) will defend their world champion titles, with a growing and stronger competition hot on their heals eager to earn top honours. Who will beat the course' fastest time, last year's incredible winning time of 8 hours and 16 minutes, for the 10th edition?

Team list 2015 at http://www.otilloswimrun.se/teams

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