Whistler Welcomes Swimrun Giant Otillo

A new player is about to make a splash on Canada’s swimrun scene. This summer, esteemed Swedish multisport company Otillo Swimrun will bring its signature swimrun event to Canada for the first time. Joining the global family of Otillo Swimrun races (spanning Sweden, France, and the US), Whistler, B.C. will host the inaugural Canadian event on July 7, 2024.

Dale Tiessen, Race Director for Otillo Swimrun Whistler, said the event is filling a hole in the town left by the exodus of Ironman in 2019. That same year, while organizing a grassroots off-road triathlon in Whistler (recently acquired by Xterra), Tiessen spent a lot of time dreaming up mini local adventures with friends. One of those just so happened to be a swimrun.

The sport of swimrun involves swimming from island to island (the direct translation of “ÖTILLÖ”) or, in the case of Whistler, lake to lake–all while wearing one’s running shoes, and then trail running, while wearing and carrying one’s swim equipment, between those natural bodies of water.

Tiessen mapped out a course, roped in two friends, and spent the day gallivanting through some of his adopted hometown’s best terrain.

A Match Made in Heaven

This year, Tiessen made his dream a reality with the help of Otillo Swimrun, a global event leader in the world of swim-run: “I showed them the course, and they were all in.”

While more mainstream multisport events have struggled to take hold in the Sea to Sky corridor, the unique and off-the-beaten path sport of swimrun is practically made for Whistler.

“There’s a little bit of crazy involved in swimrun,” Tiessen says of the sport that was invented as a drunken bet between four friends who wanted to cross the 70 kilometer Stockholm archipelago. “It turns the dial away from hyper-fociused competition and back towards fun.”

The fun factor, however, doesn’t mean swimrun is just a lark; the heart of the sport is inherently challenging. Otillo Swimrun prides itself on race locations where fun, adventure and challenge blend together seamlessly–something Whistler epitomizes. The town boasts an extensive network of trails and lakes that attract backcountry enthusiasts all year round, while also offering numerous upscale hotels, restaurants, and events.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” Tiessen says.

The inaugural Otillo Swimrun Whistler showcases Whistler’s beautiful alpine lake system and well-maintained trail system–all with the stunning Coastal Mountains as a backdrop. Participants can choose from three different courses on offer, including: The Experience (Total: 10.4 km | Swim: 1.2 km Run: 9.1 km); the Sprint (Total: 22 km | Swim: 4.1 km | Run: 17.8 km); and the World Series, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Otillo World Championship (Total: 40 km | Swim: 7.3 km | Run: 32.6 km.) Participants may choose to do the event as a team, the original “form” of the sport, or as an individual.

Karen Natho, of Abbotsford, B.C., is an accomplished Canadian swim-runner who’ll be heading to Whistler as part of her training for the Otillo Swimrun World Championship on September 2 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Natho grew up open-water swimming, and as an adult, took to trail running–and eventually to triathlon.

“Biking isn’t my forte–it’s not my love,” Natho says, half-joking (after all, she’s done six Ironman races, the last of which was in Cozumel in 2019.) She eventually stumbled upon swimrun and signed up for an event in Sudbury, Ontario put on by Mudskipper, the leader in Canadian swimrun event production (see below). There, Natho qualified for the individual swimrun World Championship in Grado, Italy.

“That event opened my eyes as to what a huge deal this sport is, globally,” she said. Natho had found her new tribe: “This is my jive–this is exciting,” she says.

Natho, a professor of Kinesiology, is excited about Otillo Swimrun coming to Whistler for many reasons, one of them being increased exposure for the sport in a slightly less “hardcore” location.

“It’s different than triathlon,” Natho adds. “Swimrun is a little bit more fluid. You’re out in the great outdoors. It’s also a different community– everyone is working together on a common goal.”

And what better place to experience nature, culture, and embrace a new challenge than Whistler, crown jewel of the Coast Mountains and up-and-coming swim-run destination par excellence.

Looking for a new challenge? Consider a SwimRun

Mudskipper: Canadian Swimrun Pioneer

For Canadian swimrunners, Mudskipper events and their founder, Ian Feldmen are household names. Feldman, 62, was a Masters swim coach who says he “fell into” the swimrun scene. After doing his first open water race, Feldman started an open-water swimming Facebook Group. Shortly after, someone contacted him for help putting on a local race, calling him the “guru of open-water swimming.”

“One race became two,” Feldman recalls. “It started off totally as a hobby.”

As someone who says the bike portion of a triathlon always killed him, Feldman, who now resides in Toronto, had been looking for years for a sport that involved swimming and running. “When I heard about this, I jumped on it.”

Feldman’s first event in Sudbury, Ontario, in 2019 drew 30 people. On the heels of a few rough COVID years, he came back in 2021 with two races. By 2022, Mudskipper was running a full schedule.

This year, Feldman’s company will host 12 events across Canada and two in the US. Mudskipper’s roster of events makes it by far the largest swimrun event producer in Canada, and one of the largest in the world.

Feldman believes swimrun is one of the fastest-growing endurance sports in the world, partly because you can get into it for less than $1,000. He says that last year, Mudskipper doubled their numbers for the previous year, and that as of our interview in April, this year they’ve already met last year’s totals.

“In some areas of Europe it’s bigger than traithlon,” he adds.

As for Otillo Swimrun coming to his territory?

“They are in a lot of ways the Ironman of swimrun,” Feldman says. “ I think it’s great for the sport.”

For those interested in competing on the world stage in individual swimrun, this year Mudskipper putting on three qualifying races for the Aquaticrunner World Individual SwimRun Championships in Grado, Italy in 2025. Athletes can vy for one of 12 slots at the St. Donat SwimRun Challenge on July 28 in Quebec, the Mudskipper Canadian Individual SwimRun Championships on August 18 in Parry Sound, and the Sasamat Mudskipper SwimRun Challenge on September 22nd.