Swimrun is coming to Croatia.
Swimrun is an increasingly popular sport with teams of two competitors who alternately run and swim. There is no time to waste – competitors run in wet swimsuits and swim in sneakers. This is a unique sport and experience, given that the route always goes through pristine nature, reports Dalmacija News on March 28, 2017.
ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championships (ÖTILLÖ means “from island to island” in Swedish) is considered to be one of the most challenging one-day races in the world. On Sunday, 2 April, the first qualifying race “ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Hvar” will take place, with athletes coming from as many as 23 countries. The best swimrun teams in the world are ready to start the 2017 season on the magical race route on Hvar, along with more than a hundred other international teams.
ÖTILLÖ Hvar is the first in a series of ÖTILLÖ swimrun qualifying races for the 2017 World Championships. The stakes are high, become the best team gets a gold starting shirt and is one step closer to winning the remaining qualifying races in 2017, for a cash prize of 100,000 euros.
ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Hvar is one of the qualifying races for the 2017 World Championships which will be held in the Swedish archipelago. The day before the main race, a shorter and more accessible race will also be organized on Hvar. ÖTILLÖ Sprint Hvar will offer the same experience like the longer, more challenging race, but with shorter sections.
Ivan Verunica, director of INCroatia, a travel agency that organizes sports events and educational programmes, asked ÖTILLÖ organizers to bring the race to Croatia. “The first time I heard for ÖTILLÖ was less than two years ago, from a swimmer from England. In addition to exceptional physical exertion, I was attracted by the friendly aspect of competition in pairs, and the fact that this sport includes interaction with nature. It is hard to imagine any place on the Croatian coast which would not be perfect for ÖTILLÖ races. Swimrun as a sport and the beautiful hilly coastline of crystal clear Adriatic Sea are the perfect combination. A new and exciting chapter in the ÖTILLÖ story will be written in Hvar, in Croatia”, said Verunica.
ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Weekend Hvar will be co-organized by the Town of Hvar and the Hvar Tourist Board. It will bring together some of the best swimrun teams. Athletes from around the world will compete alongside world champions in this discipline and winners of previous qualifying races. Some of them are veterans of swimrun, while others will compete for the first time in this discipline to discover why so many people want to feel the unique experience provided by swimrun races.
“Swimrun is a unique discipline that is still developing in the world and we in the Split-Dalmatia County have recognized it as a discipline that combines swimming and running and also enables people to get to know local destinations, cultural and historical sites, and nature. And we have decided to apply these principles here. The current trends are healthy living, healthy food, enjoying nature, and that is precisely what is going to take place on 1 April. More than 266 competitors will come to the island of Hvar and enjoy themselves. This is a great story for the promotion of tourist pre-season and the real story with which we can promote active tourism and our county”, said director of Split-Dalmatia County Tourist Board Joško Stella.
