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June 12th, 2022

RACE DIRECTORS REPORT & OFFICIAL VIDEO – ÖTILLÖ SWIMRUN ISLES OF SCILLY 2022

RACE DIRECTORS REPORT

ÖTILLÖ SWIMRUN ISLES OF SCILLY 2022

A trip to the dream world.

After three years of being away it felt fantastic to be back on the Isles of Scilly. It was every bit as fantastic as we remembered and the warm welcome of the local community is unrivaled elsewhere.

We had close to 500 persons signed up to all the race distances but we actually did not know exactly how many racers would show up as entries had been pushed from 2020 to 2021 to 2022. We are very grateful for the 300+ of you that came. In all honesty we think that we all had a very special experience.

On the Friday before the races the local hero Wes Swain had organized a junior Swimrun with the support from Vivobarefoot. This event is a huge success as a little more than 100 children of all ages wearing our old race bibs set off with massive smiles. To think that when we put on our first race the majority of the islanders thought we were a bit nuts. Now, five editions later, more than 100 children from the local schools are doing Swimrun. That feels like a massive success.

On Saturday it was time for the Sprint and Experience racers. 182 persons set off in the two distances with the majority of all racers being women and newcomers to the sport of Swimrun. The local young adults also showed that there is a bright future for swimrun on the Isles of Scilly. The energy and the positivity throughout the day made us all dream for more. The weather on the day, with wind, a little drizzle and in some places quite tricky water entries and exits did not matter at all. 

Upon waking up on Sunday morning we realized that the weather gods were with us again. Sun with intermittent clouds and barely no wind set the stage for a fantastic day of racing in the World Series distance. The first 2000 m swim to Tresco was in almost flat water. It could not have been a better start to the day.

As the day progressed it was very clear that Max Andersson SWE & Hugo Tormento FRA will be the team to beat this year. They powered away very quickly and created a comfortable gap for themselves. Their speed and coordinated racing is impressive. The big battle in the race became that between the first Womens team and the first Mixed team. Which one would make it to the finish line first and which one of them would make it on to the overall podium.

Desirée Andersson & Fanny Kuhn SWE pulled out all stops and powered ahead of Richard Stannard & Sarah Richardson UK on the 2500 m swim from St Martins to St Marys and finished third overall. Desirée has more or less won every race she has entered since she started racing. It will be a very interesting season ahead to see how far she can go. We are convinced that she very soon will be on top of the overall podium.

The Isles of Scilly weekend ended in a perfect way. Lots of finishers in all race distances, a fantastic atmosphere and a closing of the weekend at the pub watching the sun set in the horizon.

The Isles of Scilly is sure difficult to get to but it is even harder to leave!

PODIUMS & QUALIFIED TEAMS

Everyone who participated in ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Isles of Scilly is a winner. Congratulations to all of you.

Here is a link to the complete results.

Here is a link to the Podiums & qualified teams.

IMAGES & VIDEO

You can find all the images from the races here.

The Official video is here.

NEXT RACE

On July 9th we are back in beautiful Switzerland. The Engadin valley with its emerald-colored lakes and snow-clad mountains will set the stage for a fantastic day of races. The World Series race course is completely redesigned and will put smiles on many faces. We look forward to seeing lots of you at the races.