Two athletes from Pembrokeshire are relishing the prospect of tackling one of the toughest endurance races in the world.
Matthew Evans and Nicky Rees will be tied together as they take part in the eleventh edition of the gruelling Swimrun World Championship, ÖTILLÖ, will be held on September 5. 120 teams of two are taking on the imposing 75km race through the archipelago of Stockholm in Sweden.
This is unchartered territory for the Pembrokeshire pair who will run and swim for hours on end in wetsuit and shoes, over and between 26 islands in the beautiful Stockholm archipelago, situated in the cold Baltic Sea.
“In today’s society where everything is focused on the individual, the experience is so much stronger when you race with a team mate. You have to adjust your performance to someone else and you should wisely use your team’s strengths and weaknesses to reach higher. That, together with the beautiful nature experience is why swimrun is so unique and growing in popularity,” said race organiser Michael Lemmel.
Matthew and Nicky will tackle one and a half marathon run (65 km) on island trails, slippery rocks, unbeaten terrain, in their wetsuit, and 10 km of open water swimming in a cold, sometimes bumpy sea with the running shoes on.
Matthew said: “To be honest this is the culmination of everything else we have done in the past. The sport of Swimrun is new, it’s getting faster, and we are getting older so our window to have a go at this was getting smaller.”
“To live where we do, this should be our National Sport! We are lucky to have been able to put together some quality sessions and we have learnt a lot every single time we have been out," said Nicky.
COURSE DETAILS
Total race distance 75km
Trail-running 65km
Swimming 10km
Swim sections 26
Longest swim 1800m
Longest run 20km
you can Follow the lads live online as the Race is to be broadcast live, Monday, September 5 from 06:00 CET on http://otilloswimrun.com/live
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