ÖTILLÖ Cannes 2021 Race Recap w/Team Envol Switzerland - HEAD

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

The fifth edition of ÖTILLÖ Cannes took place a few weeks ago (October 16-17) and we are super stoked to share our race recap of that epic race with special guests Sabina Rapelli and Alexis Charrier of Team Envol Switzerland - HEAD. We’ve been huge fans of them since they won ÖTILLÖ Catalina in 2020. We have a lot in store for this episode so let’s get right to it!

LTBz Correspondents in the Field

We have to give a special shoutout to our friends Tobias and G Flo, A.K.A. Team Max Mockermann, for taking over our IG feed on race weekend and sharing the sights and sounds of their adventure in Cannes. They are awesome and their enthusiasm for Swimrun is 100% infectious. Thanks again guys!

ÖTILLÖ Cannes 2021 Recap

In short, it was the perfect weekend for Swimrunning in the south of France.

ÖTILLÖ describes the race as a “true ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Series course with islands to cross and lots of fantastic nature. It is challenging and fun with two big hills, single track trails, amazing views and beautiful water to swim in.” That checks off all the boxes for us!

We got more intel for everyone thanks to our field correspondents Tobias and G Flo. They chatted with Emma and Brandon that manage logistics and operations for ÖTILLÖ to ask how the race started in Cannes and the demands on them as they put on a world class event.

The World Series Distance Results

The World Series distance race is 44.2km (27.5 miles) of total distance with 36.1km (22.4 miles) of mixed trail/road/sand running and 8,100m (8,858yds) of swimming. The longest run was around 7.3km and the longest swim was 1,400m. The course also had 357m (1,171ft) of elevation gain which doesn’t sound like a lot but most of it is gained on the Port de Cannes run leg.

Women’s Team Podium:

1st Place: ARK Swimrun Helena & Kristin (Helena Sivertsson and Kristin Larsson) [Reigning World Champions]
2nd Place: Team Envol/Primalcoaching (Johanna Paulsson and Anna Hellström)
3rd Place: ARKsouls Addnature (Helen Wikmar and Evelina Järvinen)

Mixed Team Podium:

1st Place: Team Envol - Desirée & Victor (Desirée Andersson and Victor Hugo) [Second Place Overall!)
2nd Place: Team Envol Switzerland - HEAD (Sabina Rapelli and Alexis Charrier)
3rd Place: TC WEPPES - NUSWIMRUN (Pierre-Louis Senechal and Angèle Duhem)

Men’s Team Podium:

1st Place: ARK Swimrun France (Hugo Tormento and Max Andersson)
2nd Place: Will and Max (Maxime Picot and William Even)
3rd Place: Team Surprise (Benjamin Dupain and David Pesquet)

Overall, the weather was perfect for race weekend and the vibe of the entire event was one of gratitude and fun. If you’re still on the fence about putting this race on your bucket list, check out the hype video for this year’s race by Rasmus Lodenius and the rest of the ÖTILLÖ media crew.

Special Race Report with Sabina and Alexis

It was really fun to sit down with Sabina and Alexis a few days after their second place finish in the World Series distance. As we mentioned at the beginning, we have been huge fans of theirs since Catalina and they have been on our list of teams that we wanted to interview for the show since then. We’re glad to finally have them on and chat about their Swimrun journey including how they met (thanks Nicolas Remires) and started racing together, how they trained and stayed motivated during COVID, their 2nd place finish at ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship, their Cannes race, and what is up next for them.

We loved this conversation and know that you will too!

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.

Thank you for listening and see you out there!

- Chip and Chris