First place finish at Utö swimrun
What an amazing day it was! We took our first victory around the beautiful island of Utö.
It was great weather, the sun was shining and it was pretty cold in the water, around 9 degrees. The race was on a distance of 30 km of running and 3 km of swimming (divided into about 10 swims and 12 runs). We entered this race to get a nice training day as preparation for the big race "ö till ö "in September. We had not got time to train together more than once so it was a bit interesting to see how it would go. Lots of people had entered because they wanted to get a qualifying spot for "ö till ö", but we already had qualified to "ö till ö" thanks to our fourth place finish in it last year. So this race would just be a fun one, good for training and testing new equipment from Camaro.
It was great weather, the sun was shining and it was pretty cold in the water, around 9 degrees. The race was on a distance of 30 km of running and 3 km of swimming (divided into about 10 swims and 12 runs). We entered this race to get a nice training day as preparation for the big race "ö till ö "in September. We had not got time to train together more than once so it was a bit interesting to see how it would go. Lots of people had entered because they wanted to get a qualifying spot for "ö till ö", but we already had qualified to "ö till ö" thanks to our fourth place finish in it last year. So this race would just be a fun one, good for training and testing new equipment from Camaro.
When the starting gun went off we held a calm easy pace at the end of the 50 teams pack.
1350m of running went easy and then we went into the water for the first short swim and it was really cold so we passed lots of teams. Already after the 3rd island we were at top 11 of all teams. We passed through some wonderful small islands with some forest or just rocks and sand. The water temperature changed from warmer to colder around the island. When we entered the forest of "Norrskog" at Ålö (the island just south of Utö) the temperature in the air was around 20 degrees. It was just 2.9km but right into the deep forest without trails and lots of hills which made it hard. Running with whole wetsuits in over 30 minutes in 20 degrees heat is pretty hard so we really looked forward of entering the cold water again.
We reached Båtshaket for the first sprint prize and felt quite relaxed. The rest of the southern island along the shore of Ålö has a bit more rocks so it went a bit slower. The swim over to Storsand was beautiful and we prepared for the longer run. It was an 11km run (or with a cooldown 50m swim after 5km). Two more small islands was passed and when we entered the last swim we had a 10th place, but saw 4 teams ahead halfway to the other side. When we came up at the other side we passed 3 teams that was sitting cramping on the beach. It was a bit strange how much problems lots of teams got just on the last swim, but it must have been about 7-8 degrees there.
I did not feel my feet either at the end of that swim but I was not cramping and Annika did not seem to have any problems. Anyway we run the last 950m up the hill and finished 7th overall.
We reached Båtshaket for the first sprint prize and felt quite relaxed. The rest of the southern island along the shore of Ålö has a bit more rocks so it went a bit slower. The swim over to Storsand was beautiful and we prepared for the longer run. It was an 11km run (or with a cooldown 50m swim after 5km). Two more small islands was passed and when we entered the last swim we had a 10th place, but saw 4 teams ahead halfway to the other side. When we came up at the other side we passed 3 teams that was sitting cramping on the beach. It was a bit strange how much problems lots of teams got just on the last swim, but it must have been about 7-8 degrees there.
I did not feel my feet either at the end of that swim but I was not cramping and Annika did not seem to have any problems. Anyway we run the last 950m up the hill and finished 7th overall.
Winning this race in the mixed team was great and to become 7th overall was far above our expectations.
The best of it all was to experience all these beautiful parts around the island Utö and Ålö, with wild trail running, free
running over minor “mountains”, along the shore and on white beaches, through
typical swedish archipelago houses and pastures, swimming in cold and
super clear water.
All the spectators were fantastic cheering us on through the whole race! And eventually big thanks to, Micke and Mats (together with Mats, Jesper and Anders) that did a fabulous work to organise another fantastic race.
All the spectators were fantastic cheering us on through the whole race! And eventually big thanks to, Micke and Mats (together with Mats, Jesper and Anders) that did a fabulous work to organise another fantastic race.
/Fredrik
-What was the toughest with this race?
F: To get the camera very close to your face when you just reached the finishline. No just kidding, the heat on the part of Norrskog.
Picture above: Annika, me, Staffan and Jonas(Winners in Mens team)
www.utoswimrun.se
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