It all started in 2002 with a few too many beers, a drawing on a napkin and a crazy bet. Four friends divided in two pairs decided to go through the Stockholm archipelago, from Utö to Sandhamn. They would run across land, swim from island to island and the last pair to arrive in Sandhamn would be paying for everyone’s hotel, dinner and drinks. When Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott heard about the crazy bet in late 2005, they decided to make a race out of it. They called it Ö TILL Ö, island to island in Swedish. When its first official version went off in September of 2006, no one had clue they were about to start a worldwide movement. The race became mythical quite fast, and more and more teams travelled from all over the world to Stockholm to take on the grueling challenge. 75km total, divided into 65km of trail running and 10km of open-water swimming over and between 26 islands (54 sections). Now recognized by CNN as one of the toughest races in the World, ÖTILLÖ had become a legend. In 2012, Erika Rosenbaum, a podium finisher, gave the discipline the name of Swimrun, and ÖTILLÖ became the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship. Through the years, ÖTILLÖ has organized more races in different countries, and welcomes each year participants from over 35 nations. ÖTILLÖ became ÖTILLÖ Swimrun. The original race that started the whole Swimrun movement is now the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship. This epic race is always hosted on the first Monday of September and ran on the original course. Today, ÖTILLÖ Swimrun organizes races in Sweden, England, Germany, Switzerland, France, USA and Malta. More locations will follow…
