Following a year of upheaval during the pandemic, the 2021 ÖTILLÖ Swimrun season starts this weekend on the island of Utö in the Stockholm archipelago. The team at ÖTILLÖ notes that this is an appropriate location, as ‘this is where the sport was born back in the early 2000s.’
There are still some restrictions in Sweden so the event will follow a Covid-19 protocol which limits the size of the race fields and requires social distancing.
‘On June 19-20 the island of Utö will show why the sport of Swimrun was conceived here. Fantastic trail running combined with many swims in a warmish Baltic will portray Swimrun at its best. For some it is for the adventure, for some it is for the experience, for some it is to race hard and for some it is to qualify to ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship 2021.’
ÖTILLÖ Malta was originally scheduled as the first event of the series this year, with racing planned for April 17-18, 2021. However, this event has been pushed back to November – with Utö kicking off a season of swimrun racing.
ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Utö is billed as the most prestigious race in Sweden with ‘some of the best racers in the world racing in the World Series race on Sunday.’
The weekend of races are divided into races with a maximum of 150 persons. ‘All in all we have a little over 450 persons racing over two days and three distances.’
