Alyssa reached out in April and asked if I’d be up for a long “swimrun” effort. I asked her to send over the particulars of the race, she did, and I immediately replied that I’d need some time to think about it. Respect the distance. And good golly am I glad I did.
Sweden: where water meets topography. 43 miles of swimming + 136 miles of running. Over 100 transitions as teams of three swimrun through an archipelago.
I went to race an Extreme Triathlon in Sweden a few years back. The topography was soul branding. An incredibly healthy water table certainly lends itself to swimrun, and it’s far north so the daylight is long. Conveniently, there are chains of islands connecting some fantastic open water swimming. And that, coupled with some very deep roots in swimrun culture, is where One Water Race sprouted.
Back to Alyssa, the guest on this episode. She doesn’t fuss around. Alyssa is the current record holder for the Female Supported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on Vermont’s 273-mile Long Trail, completing the trail in 5 days, 2 hours and 37 minutes in the summer of 2018. In 2020, she set the current Female Supported FKT for the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks, becoming the second fastest human to climb the 46 peaks, in a time of 3 days, 16 hours and 16 minutes. In 2022, Alyssa set the Overall Supported FKT for New Hampshire’s 48 High Peaks, in a time of 3 days, 8 hours and 56 minutes.
Traithlon, trail running, bike packing, long walks. It’s all good stuff, but what about swimrun? Don’t know unless you go. And if you are going you might as well try hard.
Yours in sport,
Andrew
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One Water Race on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@onewaterrace6713
Keep up with Alyssa: @alyssagesky on Instagram
