New local event: Amphibious (SwimRun) Challenge on September 24!
Posted In: Running August 20th, 2016 divider No Comments »I know most of you love adventure, especially of the outdoors variety.
Well old friend and adventure superstar Simon Donato is bringing a new event to the area: the Amphibious Challenge.
It’s born out of his desire to help bring the incredible sport of SwimRun to Canada. He competed in ÖTILLÖ, the swimrun world championships in 2015, and immediately fell in love with the sport. Having found a perfect stretch of the Upper Ottawa River near his home in Sheenboro QC, he decided to launch the inaugural event this fall. For those who don’t know, it’s near Pembroke/Petawawa.
FYI, Swimrun is a sport that originated in Sweden more than 10 years ago and has since grown in popularity – rapidly in the past few years. The sport sees athletes, often in teams of two navigate a marked course by swimming and running. The athletes typically wear wetsuits, use flotation aids, and swim in their shoes as they race along courses 10 – 75 km in length. The 75 km long ÖTILLÖ race was the first, and the preeminent swimrun event and serves as the annual world championship.
The inaugural Amphibious Challenge race course will be about 15 km long, with 12 km of running and 3 km of swimming. The fastest racers are expected to complete the course in around 2 hours.
The swimming in this race will be incredible. All swimming will occur in the Ottawa River, so athletes will benefit from a slow current and warm water temperatures (15-20 C). Athletes will swim from the mainland to a series of islands, with the longest swim being around 700 m, and the shortest 300 m.
The running surfaces that you will cross during this race include pavement, gravel and dirt track, exposed shield rock (granite – which can be slick when wet), forest trails, and flagged off-trail. The terrain will range from flat to hilly. It will be all part of the fun.
Here is the link for all the info: amphibiouschallenge.ca
I hope to see you there!