Burcay Gurcan

Welcome to episode ninety-nine of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

This week we have a Portland, Maine local legend, Burcay Gurcan on the show. He’s a Portland Maine institution and we chatted with him about all things Portland/Casco Bay, water polo (yes, water polo,) and how he’s single-handedly gotten so many people into Swimrun. We got a bunch of requests to get him on the show and we’re glad to share his story with you!

But first...

Training Update

It’s still the off-season for us for a few weeks and life is good. (So is all the food we’ve been eating!)

Shoutouts

This week we’re shouting out the crew at Palisades Tahoe (the ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley) for turning on their snow-making machines so that our kids could have some snow to play with on our recent vacation to Lake Tahoe.

Feats of Endurance

This week’s award goes to Jonathan DePriest. He’s a San Francisco native and we’re super impressed that he’s been consistently jumping into Aquatic Park (our usual training grounds) to swim in the bay without a wetsuit. We wish we were as tough as you! Keep up the strong work!

Check out and join our Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for Swimruns and stuff.

This Week in Swimrun

Time for all the news that we could find on the internet.

We’re back with the second edition of our ad hoc “Race Director Reports” segment! This week we have our friend Bruno Safara of Swimrun Portugal on the show to talk about the Lagoa Swimrun that took place a few weeks ago and his plans for 2022.

This past weekend, Swimrun Hydra took place in Greece. While no actual mythological creatures (hydras) were spotted on the race course that we heard about...it was still an awesome event with a ton of participants.

Over in France, Swimrun Man announced their race dates for 2022. We’ll save everyone our attempts to pronounce the names of all the events so head over to their website to see their four events for next year. As a bonus, all four events have ÖTILLÖ Merit Race distances for those trying to accumulate ÖTILLÖ ranking points.

Finally, one of our favorite races (to view from a distance) Hellas Frostbite Swimrun is taking place on December 1st. This race raises funds for the Swedish Cancer Society and it’s an all around crazy event in water cold enough to make you blush...whether you want to or not.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to tip us off if there’s any news that you would like for us to share on the show.

Updates

Our new headwear is here! Head over (see what we did there?) to our shop to see our new hats and beanies. These make great gifts for either loved ones or yourself. In other words, “treat yo self!”

Our friend Will from Above/Below sent a note our way about their new US patent and an exciting opportunity for anyone to invest in Above/Below (the company) and help fund more Ruck Rafts to get out into the world. Here is the link to the crowdfunding here (open to UK residents only at this time.)

We’ve officially signed up for Swimrun Lake James. We’re really looking forward to racing Kristen Jeno’s event in late April and hope to see you there!

Burcay Gurcan

It was great to chat with Burcay about the circuitous route that brought him from Turkey to New England, how he discovered Swimrun, what it was like to race some of those early Casco Bay events, and why he keeps coming back every year. This was a fun conversation and we think that you will enjoy it!

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thanks for listening and see you out there!

- Chip and Chris