STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
No less than four teams beat the course record in a phenomenal race of 75 km trail running and open water swimming, over and between 26 islands in the Swedish archipelago. However, Englund (SWE) and Krochak (CAN), Team Head Swimming, proved hard to beat in the challenging competition. With an amazing winning time of 8 hours and 35 minutes they crushed the course record with 32 minutes!
– This year we gave it all! During the summer we already competed in four other swim-run races to prepare for ÖTILLÖ. Today was really fast with several teams pushing at the top. The conditions were perfect for a fast competition, not too warm in the air, not too big waves and not too cold in the water. It’s a real challenge to win ÖTILLÖ. To work well as a team is pretty decisive as well as a lot of training and even more will power, said winner Björn Englund, who placed second last year.
Along the years the athletes have stepped up the pace and this eighth edition proved to be the fastest, most hard fought edition ever, pushing one another to exceptional speed on such a long course, resulting in four teams crushing the course record.
The start gun went off at dawn at 05.55 am on the island of Sandhamn. In the beautiful late summer morning the 114 endurant teams of two, from 15 nationalities, started with a short 2 km run to the first long and difficult swim where the well-prepared athletes got their first shock on how hard it is to compete in ÖTILLÖ, one of the toughest one-day races in the world. After the long swim at 6 am, followed a long day with slippery rocks to run on, tight trails in the forrest and more cold stretches of water to tackle before reaching the finish line on the island of Utö.
Result top 3 – ÖTILLÖ 2013
- Björn Englund (SWE) och Paul Krochak (CAN), Team HEAD Swimming; 8h 35 min
- Magnus Olander (SVE) och Lelle Moberg (SVE), Team Livskvalité by ICA Hagsätra; 8h 42 min 13 se
- Simon Börjesson (SVE) och Rasmus Regnstrand (SVE), Team Nybroviken RIB; 8 h 48 min 57 sec
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International TV Distribution
EYESPRINT COMMUNICATION
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Photos
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©Jakob Edholm / ÖTILLÖ2013
Many more photos available on our flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/otillorace/
Fast Facts ÖTILLÖ
- 8th edition, September 2, 2013
- 120 teams – 80 men, 26 mixed, 14 women (114 on the start line)
- Start at the island of Sandhamn, finish at the island of Utö
- Fastest time 2013: 8 hours 35 minutes
- Previous Course record: 9 hours 07 minutes (2010)
- 75 km running and swimming from dawn till dusk
- 65 km of trail running
- 10 km of open water swimming
- Water temperature between 11-14 degrees C
- 24 islands to cross
- 42 in and outs of the water
- 42 changes between running and swimming
- The swims are between 100 and 1 780 m
- The runs are between 70 and 19 700 m
- Equal to 1,5 times the Ironman running distance (1.5 marathon) in your wetsuit and three times the ironman swim in your running shoes…
- Teams of two, for safety reasons
- 15 Nationalities: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, UK, USA, S Africa, Romania, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Australia, Canada – All teams here: http://www.otilloswimrun.se/teams/
- In December 2012 ÖTILLÖ was ranked by CNN as one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world.
