Written by coach Tom Jenkinson
What a place, what an adventure, what a race!
I had heard of the first test format race that took place in 2022. I was contacted by an old friend that I had worked with on a river team in France summer 1990 – I hadn’t seen him since. He is now based in Switzerland and was part of the crew organizing the event and was also going to swim it. That gave me an added incentive to sign up in 2023 and with three others from Bromma Swim Club/Team Envol plus my swimrun sage Michael Lemmel. We headed over on Serbian Airlines via Belgrade landing in Tivat on Thursday evening September the 28th.
The Lazure hotel resort is amazing, nestled on the Montenegrin coastline with its mountainous landscape framing the azure waters of the adriatic like a warm Norwegian fjörd. Åsa and Jesper and great swimmers. Emma and I were banking on being much more mid-pack but in reality none of us knew really what to expect. [Postscript: Åsa finished 2nd place in the women’s wetsuit class, and Jesper had a really solid swim in the skin’s class whilst Emma probably enjoyed it more than all of us!]
A pizza to fill the stomach and some beers to calm the nerves we retired ready for an early start. Each morning had a similar format. A fantastic breakfast followed by a short walk to the water where we received our GPS trackers and boarded boats to take us to the start of the day. Given the point to point format there was a new start and finish each day. The evening also had a prescribed rhythm. 18:00 a swim related “poolside” talk, 18:30 a briefing for the coming day.
There were 120 swimmers including some truly elite level open water athletes but the community was incredibly inclusive. Each swimmer has their own ambitions and challenges.
Stage 1 – 4k – 31st Place
Easy out of the gate. The warm water (24 degrees) was a pleasure to swim in. I was able to take places in the later part and as a happy coincidence I finished alongside my old friend Matt. Swimming 33.3km together, a reunion after 33.3 years – now that’s something!
Stage 2 – 5k – 24th Place
Tried to be more tactical and get on the right feet. It’s not a stress free way to swim but it made a difference on placing.
Stage 3a – 7.5k – 23rd Place
This one was a tough one. Seemed to take a long time. I drafted in a small pod of swimmers before making a move with 1km to go. Finished strong.
Stage 3b – 1.8k – Untimed
We were ferried to an island prison (now a luxury hotel) for lunch in the baking sun on a helicopter pad. Following lunch we had an untimed swim which was nice just to relax.
Stage 4 – 10.5k – 27th Place
The queen’s stage. Somehow it felt easier than day 2 probably just because we were mentally prepared. Again some tactical drafting and then a late push left two of us racing for the line (he beat me).
Stage 5 – 4.5k – 40th Place
The final one. They ferried us to the Croatian coast where we jumped from the boats before making a 2+km crossing in quite heavy sea to the Montenegrin coast, in and out of a WW2 submarine pen and then along the coast to the finish. I’d had stomach problems the evening before so I didn’t have my race-head on, in some ways it was much more enjoyable just to feel the flow of the swim and take in the surroundings, but it did cost me places.
TOTAL 33.3km – Time 9:52:35 for 25th place overall.
Luckily the last stage didn’t impact my overall placing and considering the competition I was super happy with 25th, I definitely punched above my weight on some of the stages.
The event was meticulously planned with over 80 support staff. Nothing was overlooked. It’s not cheap but on the other hand I felt we got a lot for our money. The venue and scenery were stunning and the weather was great. All the transport being water based also gave a real connection to the ocean environment.
Would I have raced it differently in hindsight? Not sure. But I have a year to work that out. I plan to be back in 2024. You should join me!
Have fun and train hard!
Did you know that Envol also provides single discipline plans for distance running and open water swimming? For more information contact info@envolcoaching.net
