ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Gothenburg 2021
A New Experience for us.
Not only was the location new for us but also the format of doing all races in one day.
Like Mats Skott said the day before the race – it is like when we raced Adventure Racing. You know that you have done everything possible to be well prepared but you still do not know what you will face and what the outcome will be.
It was exactly that.
After the enormous set-back last year just before our planned autumn race on Utö when the permits were revoked days before the event we decided to go to Gothenburg to check out the Southern Archipelago. To make something positive out of the extreme negative.
We found a location where we all wanted to put on a race. In a very short turn-around time we managed to get sorted and to announce the race for August 7th.
In May we went again to do final preparations and plan the details of the event. At that time we also found Mia Albertsson, a local who agreed to become our on-site coordinator. Her efforts greatly helped out possibilities to succeed.
We are dependent on volunteers. After having worked together for a couple of events you begin to understand how to communicate and how to interact. On a “first date” this is impossible. So going into the event we knew that we had communicated how we wanted things to be but you do not know what happens on the receiving end until after.
To add to the puzzle we also decided to do all events in one day instead of over a weekend as we usually do. This was of course completely new to us and made us have to think and rethink many times.
The races
A couple of weeks before the race we were also concerned about the number of racers. It was a little too low but then in the last ten days something happened and we are so happy that we had 550 persons signed up in the end.
The week before the race the weather was perfect. But the forecast for race day was not very good at all. We were lucky, we had almost perfect weather for swimrun with 18 degrees in the water and in the air. We had virtually no rain at all.
This all set the stage for a superb day of racing with many new faces for us and with great performances by everyone. The finish line was full of smiles and along the race courses there was lots of people watching.
Thank you all racers for your trust. We also thank the City of Gothenburg and the communities on the islands for hosting us so well.
In August next year we can do it again taking all the learnings into consideration to put on an even better event. ÖTILLÖ Swimrun loves the Swedish West Coast.
Coming up
Now on towards the Final15k Sprint, September 4th on Utö and the World Championship on September 6th. Before tackling the autumn with a whirlwind of races in Cannes, on Malta and on Catalina. Find out about them all here.
We hope to see you soon again!
