Ötillö World Championship 2023

I have wavered on how to approach this article as the details of a race like the ÖTILLÖ World Championship seem overwhelming in its aftermath. There are so many islands, transitions, terrain variations, etc. that by the time I was in the back half of the race, I was already forgetting what I faced in the first half. Sitting here six days later, I have forgotten even more, but I am going to try to synthesize the key points of the race as best I can. I am sure I am not the only one who sees it this way, but I consider the race to be five separate sections:

The start to the end of the first substantial run on the island of Runmarö.
From the end of Runmarö to the end of the second substantial run on the island of Nämdö.
The various islands and swims from the end of Nämdö to the start of the run of Ornö (including the famous Pig swim).
The run on Ornö (longest of the day).
The end of Ornö to the finish line.

Prior to the race, I had divided it up into four sections in my head, combining sections 3 and 4, which is clearly wrong. I obviously realized that Ornö was a very long run, but when it came to dividing up the sections, I was thinking more along the lines of swimrun transitions. Instead, I should have thought more along the lines of time spent racing, which clearly makes the division into five sections much more logical. With that mind, I’ll do my best to recapitulate what I recall from those various sections.

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Unlike other races, the day before the race is essentially part of the race. Due to the complex logistical nature of the event, everyone is required to stay in a hotel the night before the race so that everyone can be loaded on a ferry on race morning to be transferred to the race start. The day before the race, athletes meet at the Stockholm Central Station, take a bus ride that lasts about 45-60 minutes, check into the hotel, attend a race meeting and then have dinner.

I initially thought this might all be a little much, but on the day, I didn’t feel that way at all. The race briefing was interesting in that it covered the history of the event, interviewed some of the founders and contenders and had sort of a pep rally vibe. The final 15 minutes were attributed directly to logistical considerations and race day details.

Afterwards, we had dinner with all the racers and then my partner, Lars Finanger, and I went back to our hotel rooms to go over some details for the morning. We then divided up all the race nutrition that we were planning to start the race with (as you can see in the photo below). This was not going to be the only nutrition we were going to us by any means, as we would pull additional nutrition from the aid stations as needed.

I laid down fairly early in the evening and tried to get some sleep. I did manage to get a good bit, but I was feeling pretty amped well before the 3:00 a.m. wake up call. Once I got up, I made some coffee and went out to do my ten minute jog to wake the body up. Once I got back it was breakfast, pack up our stuff and walk down to the ferry at 4:15 a.m. We then loaded up and cruised over for about 45 minutes to get to the first island of Sandhamn for the race start. After some final preparations, Lars and I lined up and got ready to take on a very long day.

Stage one: Sandhamn to the end of the island of Runmarö (5 islands)

The race begins as a neutralized mass start with a 1.2K run through the forest before taking on the first swim of the day, which is also the longest (1600 meters+). This swim is not only long, but also quite exposed to the open ocean and as we got to the beach, I could see the wind was kicking up some pretty nice swells between the islands. Lars and I decided to take a line to the far right to start to avoid some of the early race chaos. The swim was definitely pretty rough and the swells were occasionally catching our paddles and bogging us down. We also managed to get caught up on some rocks on the second half of the swim that we had to sort of dolphin dive over. This swim certainly felt longer than 1600 meters with the conditions, rock scrambling, etc. so it was nice when we finally hit the first exit.

In preparation for the race, I listened to a number of podcasts from the Löw Tide Böyz about the course and in their first course preview episode they talked in depth about the technical nature of the early islands and the challenge of the various swim exits. Moreover, in talking with other athletes, they all mentioned that the early islands were a bit stressful not only because of the technical nature of the islands, but also because the athletes are still tightly packed and the trails don’t really allow for easy passing and overtaking. On top of all of this, Nicolas Remeris (Envol Coaching) said that the recent rain would make the trails wet and muddy in the forest so that had an added technical element to take into consideration.

All of the aforementioned details proved to be true: both Lars and I slipped and fell at different points on the trails, my leg disappeared into a deep muddy puddle and athletes were everywhere scrambling over rocks and moss and logs. However, for whatever reason, I wasn’t feeling too frazzled and I was enjoying the chaos. In my mind, this was going to be much worse than it actually was so my extreme mental vision had paid off.

As we exited the swim on the island of Runmarö, I was feeling pretty good and was looking forward to the first longer run of about 9K. Lars and I were able to check in with each other and we actually started talking about goggles. After the first or second swim, Lars had put his goggles away. Interestingly, I remember swimming in the ocean in Sweden as a kid and I remembered that you could open your eyes under water without any pain. Lars had tried it out a couple days earlier and really liked the fact that it was easier to sight without foggy goggles. I didn’t feel like I was having trouble sighting, but I did think that the elimination of goggles could really help with the transitions. I said that I would try the next few swims without the goggles and would assess from there. As it turned out, I never used the goggles again.

Even with a little adversity in the first swim and a few slips and falls on the opening islands, I would consider the first section to have gone pretty well. It was now time to move to the next section of the course.

Stage two: The end of Runmarö to the end of island of Nämdö (4 islands)

Upon reflection, this might have been the least eventful part of the course for us. I do recall that at this point, we were sort of settling in with a couple different teams and our choice to ditch the goggles was making our transitions notably faster. Even though one team was faster at swimming, we usually had a slight lead at the start and could then sit out their feet to the exit. After three islands, we landed on the island of Nämdö which was the second significant run of the day of around 8K. This run has an out and back near the end to an aid station; at this point we saw Nicolas on the course and he told us we were just inside the top 25 teams. I knew that Lars had finished 23rd in the previous year so in my mind I felt like we were racing pretty well and there was no need to force anything. We just needed to keep doing what were doing and keep waiting for the adversity and challenges to come whenever they would come.

Stage three: The end of Nämdö to the island of Örno (8 islands)

In my mind, this is a crucial section of the course. It has two longer swims and lot of technical running that really generates a lot of mental (and physical) fatigue. In the second course preview podcast from the LTBZ they go into great detail about this section. A few things that I had really taken into account was the Pig swim (1400 meters, 2nd longest swim of the day), the 950 meter swim that follows shortly after (and catches people out) and really stocking up at the aid station just before the swim to the island of Örno.

Up until this point, Lars and I had not tethered at any portion of the course. We felt we were pretty evenly matched in the swim so we just sort of naturally swapped pulls at different points in the swims. Lars tended to be better at swim entries so I usually went onto his feet to start each swim and would then take over at some point. After a had full of islands in this section, we were coming up on the Pig swim and I told Lars that we should plan on switching pulls whenever the lead swimmer flips on their back. When that happens, let the other swimer easily pull through and take the lead. Moreover, we were slightly ahead of the faster swimming team we had been around since Nämdö so I said that they would probably catch us mid swim and we should sit on their feet to the finish.

As expected, the faster swim team caught up to us around mid swim when I was at the front. I got on their feet, but this time it definitely felt like a good bit of work. I suspect they were using this section to really make a move and it showed. I stayed in their draft for a few minutes, but they eventually pulled away. At this point, I looked back and noticed Lars had been dropped so I eased up and let him catch back onto my feet and we cruised to the end of the swim. Knowing there were still 3 short swims and another 950 meter swim we decided to tether up and I would lead these last few swims. I had felt pretty good in the water all day and even though I was now leading, I didn’t try to hammer anything, I just kept it steady.

After taking on a lot of fluids and fuel at the aid station just before Örno, we did the final 300 meter swim and got ready to take on the longest run of the day. As we were running on the last island before the aid station, I do remember thinking that all this technical terrain had really been mentally taxing for me. I was looking forward to having a more runable, albeit long, section of the course.

Stage four: The island of Örno (one island, longest run of the day)

The island of Örno is the longest run of the day at just under 18 kilometers. The first two kilometers are moderately technical before opening up to about 14k of gravel/asphalt/gravel roads. The final kilometer is the most technical section before leaving the island. Along the way there is an unofficial aid station around 8K into the run followed by an official aid station at 10.7K mark.

As we got onto the island, we decided to cap down (take our wetsuit tops down) as it was getting quite warm. This was the only time we did this during the race as we managed to keep our tops up on Runmarö and Nämdö. However, this run was much longer and it was also probably north of 70 degrees with clear skies and sunshine (in fact I got some tan lines on the day which I absolutely did not expect).

Less than ten minutes into the run, I started to feel a little off and just as that happened I rolled my right ankle pretty significantly. My right ankle has loose ligaments (basketball injury) and is prone to roll from time to time. I had been concerned I would do this on a technical section of the course, but in this case, I did it on a trail that was hardly technical at all. I felt I did this because I was either getting tired, had low blood sugar, or both. I couldn’t do much about fatigue, but I could address blood sugar so as I was walking the pain off a bit, I hammered 400 calories right away. After about a minute of walking, I said I was good to go to start running again.

We started clicking off the K’s, but I was still feeling low on energy. I kept hitting the calories hard, trying to get myself back into the happy zone, but it just wasn’t happening. I was just trying to focus on getting to the next aid station and Lars was doing a good job of just having some on and off conversation to keep me from having to only think about how I was feeling.

We made it to the unofficial aid station and dosed ourselves with the hose (good advice in the third podcast about the course) and then carried on to the official aid station. I kept hitting the calories hard and took on a bunch of fluid and then we headed out the remainder of the island. At this point Lars suggested we tether up as he thought it would help.

As someone who has never actually raced a swimrun, I didn’t really understand the benefits of tethering while running. I saw it more as a tool/tactic that’s main purpose was the keep swimmers together (particularly if they had varied abilities). However, I was willing to try anything at this point as I still wasn’t feeling well. Once we got the tether attached, Lars was able to pull me along a bit and our pace was dropping. I had to really focus on getting my legs turning over as I didn’t want to trip up. Interestingly, my legs actually felt decent (at least in comparison to Ironman running), it was just my energy that was suffering.

I kept hammering calories while being pulled along. In my estimation, I took in at least 1200 calories on this island alone. While I realize there is always to chance of it causing GI distress, I am always willing to take that risk if the alternative is bonking.

We got the final technical kilometer and untethered. Shortly afterwards, I rolled my right ankle again although this time it really was due to the technical nature of the trail. I walked it off for a minute or so and then we scrambled down to the swim exit off the island. I don’t know where the timing location started and ended, but on this second half of the run we had the fifth fastest time across this section thanks to Lars’ herculean pull.

Stage five: The end of Örno to the finish line on Utö (six islands)

The final stage of the course is likely the shortest in terms of time. As you leave Örno, you do a series of short swims along with a handful of short, but very technical islands. A lot of terrain on these islands has more of a parkour vibe than a run vibe. Even though I was still feeling pretty fatigued, the varied terrain and briefness of the swims and runs kept me pretty engaged. Some of these short swims had massive currents which was pretty impressive to see.

We finally landed on the island of Utö and were heading to the finish line. Since this section is not technical, we tethered up again to keep the pace higher. The final run is about 3500 meters and I was counting my foot steps the entire way as I tried to keep my head in the game. Lars was pulling like an absolute BOSS and the final kilometer before the hill to the finish was a 4:10 split.

We untethered at the base and cruised up side by side to the finish with a final time of 9:06:32, good enough for 18th overall team.

There is a lot to take away from the day, but one of the greatest experiences for me was being able to race as a team with my long time friend, Lars. There is a whole other level of depth you can go to when someone else is at your side.

Suffering in solidarity.

In the coming days/weeks I will talk a bit about my thoughts on preparation, training and tactics for this event. But for now, thanks for reading.

If you are interested in seeing my training in the final three months before Ötillö, you can find it HERE.