Text: Trista Mennen
Photos: Ötillö and private
Casco Bay, Maine was the first swimrun race in the USA. It is still going strong and on August 11 Team Envol, “The Blue Nation” was well represented!
The weekend was kicked off with a pre-race clinic Saturday morning for all race participants, led by coach Marcus Barton, with help from Hugh Bowman along with so many other experienced swimrunners in the community. Shout out to Chris and Chip of the Low Tide Boys for leading the group of athletes working on transitions.
Team Envol had almost 24 members signed up
Let us introduce them!
Lexa Rijos found her partner, Mari Iwakura online after Lexa made a post seeking a partner for the World Series distance. After a few messages back and forth, Lexa and Mari decided to give it a try. Lexa raced ÖtillÖ Whistler earlier this year as a solo athlete and felt a little lonely so she wanted to find a partner. They met Friday night, after Mari arrived from Paris, France. They finished 3rd female team.
Julia Beverly and Scott Suurmeyer also found each other online and met Friday before the race. They had a great time together and are already making plans to team up again. However, Julia already has a full race schedule this year, so he may be on the hunt for another teammate until then.
Kelly Donatell and Sarah Booth had a strong race, taking 2nd place female in the World Series distance, and are excited about more chilly swims in Sweden next month at World Champs.
Jarett Jacobsen and Pete Roper had to move to plan B after an injury forced Jarett to drop to the Sprint distance. Pete remained in the World Series race as a solo athlete. Both had a great race and look forward to partnering as a team again at ÖTILLÖ, the Swimrun World Championship next month in Stockholm.
Chrissy Halioris and Diane Benke crushed their first Casco Bay World Series distance together, in final preparations for World Champs next month.
Mike Schiepke and Liza Dunham have a packed schedule this year, and raced the World Series distance as a final practice before World Champs.
Congratulations to Maine locals, Tracy Sesselberg and Sarah Haskell who raced the World Series distance together, also preparing for World Champs.
Marcus Barton teamed up with newbie, Matthieu Ernout who’s swimrun experience does not correlate to the time he’s been in the sport. After taking on Rockman last month, one of the hardest swimruns out there, Casco Bay was only Matthieu’s 3rd swimrun race but complimented Marcus well (it was Marcus’ 55 ish??).
Scott Moore flew in from Sweden to race the World Series distance with a newcomer to the sport, and American friend of his.
Chip Warner raced the World Series distance with his newish swimrun friend, and now sets his eyes on World Champs with Team Envol member Kara Cannon.
Hugh Bowman took on the World Series distance in the Mixed division for the 3rd time, and had a great day with his teammate.
Emily St. Germain and Tom Mutchler teamed up to swimWALK the Sprint distance. Kudos to them for following their coach’s orders and being smart without sacrificing fun while they are recovering from some pesky injuries.
Louise Davies moved from solo to team once she and her friend realized they were well matched to do it together. They crushed the Sprint course as a team, sadly without “Mr. Sampson” (the dog that trained with them).
Tommy Adams, newish to the sport, continues the mission to fill his season with as many swimruns as possible. He had a great time in the Sprint distance in the solo division.
Eva Estrada and her sister took the overall win in the Experience distance.
