Today, this increasingly popular sport in France is aimed at nature lovers who like to run and swim. Indeed, swimrun is practiced on a course alternating between land and water routes (sea, river, lake, etc.). It all started in 2002 with a crazy bet between friends during an evening in a Swedish hotel.

Ötillö: from island to island

The genesis of this discipline is a bet, an ambitious challenge of two Swedish brothers: Jesper and Mats Andersson and two other friends. Their idea is to join an island in the South of Sweden to an island in the North by their own means, on foot and by swimming. So they left from the village of Üto located in the South of the archipelago to the village of Sandhamn located further North. In pairs, they completed their amphibious journey in 29 hours. That was in 2002. In 2005, the first official race, the Ötillö, took place. It then brought together 11 teams of 2 athletes. Only 2 pairs arrived on time. Over the years, the Andersson brothers' adventure has become more structured and it is now a sporting discipline recognized in several countries including France. This sporting practice has even been supervised by the French Triathlon Federation since 2017.

A discipline in full swing

Swimrun is a booming sport: the combination of nature sports, swimming and running appeals to many people and the FFTri counts 118,700 participants in France in 2022 (source: ffftri.com) There are 3,200 Swim Run events per year, and the number of participants in these races is growing year by year. The number of countries where this sport is practiced is also increasing. Swimrun competitions attract participants from various countries, which allows athletes to meet other enthusiasts of this sport.

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How does a SwimRun event take place?

A SwimRun event takes place according to the course planned by the organization. It is an outdoor discipline, which must respect swimming passages and running passages with a minimum of 3 segments . Participants do not have a transition zone to change, you must swim with your running outfit and run with your swimming outfit. To help you swim, you can equip yourself with pull-buoys and swimming paddles. But you will have to run with them. A lanyard can be useful to compensate for the differences in swimming and running levels. The composition of your partner also depends on the organizer of the event.

Discover our tips for transporting your equipment during training

Originally, the swim run was intended to be a discipline without too many restrictions. You can form a mixed or male or female pair. Today, to participate in the French Swim Run championship you must be licensed, in a club or individually, and register your team in a Women's, Mixed or Men's competition. The French championship event takes place on the L format, i.e. a distance of 30 to 35km depending on the elevation to be covered.