ÖTILLÖ World Series Cannes
Young French Teams Show Why They Are A Force To Be Reckoned With
Press Release / 21.10.2020
A perfect day set the stage for a very tough race for the front of the pack. This third and COVID - modified edition of ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Cannes saw the young French team - Hugo Tormento & Matthieu Poullain, racing as Team ARK Swimrun (FRA) manage to pull away from Team Salming (SWE) to take the win. The time difference at the finish was a little more than 5 minutes after more than 44 km of hard racing.
The mixed category had the same scenario with one team pulling away early on. The newly composed team of Guillaume Henneman (FRA) & Desirée Andersson (the current women’s world champion - SWE), racing as Team Envol/ Gravelines Tri - raced hard winning almost 21 minutes ahead of Team Envol/ VIGOR Ligornetto - Alexis Charrier (FRA) & Sabina Rapelli (SUI). Guillaume and Desirée finished 4th overall.
The women’s category saw two Swedish teams chase each other hard for the win. Team Strömgren Pwrd by Wato (Marie Anderzén & Annika Westin) won 47 seconds ahead of Team Head Swimming/ Primal Coaching - Jenny Ramstedt & Josefine Jangvert (SWE). In third place came Team Marks - Stine Mollebro (DEN) & Therese Österaas (NOR).
The races at ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Cannes had around 300 racers representing a total of 19 nationalities participating in the three different formats over the weekend. Last year the weekend saw 630 racers representing 32 nations.
The Race in Detail
""We pushed hard from the beginning and managed to hold on to the lead the whole way on this very challenging course. " said the thrilled winners Hugo Tormento & Matthieu Poullain, Team ARK Swimrun (FRA) after finishing as overall winners in 4:43:09.
The ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Cannes World Series course was 44 km long of which 35.5 km were running and 8.5 km were swimming. The course started in the medieval fort on the Sainte Marguerite Island and then took the racers to the monastery island of Saint Honorat before returning to Sainte Marguerite. Then a big swim back to the mainland followed.
There the course took the racers along La Croisette, up the big hill to La Croix des Gardes before turning back down through the Suquet and the Croisette again. From there the teams went up the brutal train track to the top of La Californie before finishing down in town again. In total the course comprised eleven runs and ten swims.
The weather was fantastic all weekend with barely any wind, almost 20 degrees in the water and almost the same in the air.
Several teams had to struggle to make it in time for the three cut-offs. Some had to abandon along the way. The top teams pushed each other hard, chasing each other in a tight group in the first two hours before the pace took its toll.
At all ÖTILLÖ swimrun World Series events teams race in pairs. Using each other’s strengths will push boundaries. The team experience is incomparable and is part of why swimrun is growing so fast in popularity.
85 teams of two representing 16 nations were registered to compete in the ÖTILLÖ World Series Cannes, the second qualifier of the year for ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship 2021 in the Swedish archipelago.
The day prior to the race two shorter, more accessible races were organised, the ÖTILLÖ Sprint and ÖTILLÖ Experience, offering the same flavours as the longer, more challenging races, but in a smaller format.
Six top teams at ÖTILLÖ Cannes qualify to ÖTILLÖ, The Swimrun World Championship 2021 on September 6th, 2021 in the Stockholm Archipelago; the top 2 men, top 2 mixed and the top 2 women.
More information about ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Cannes: https://otilloswimrun.com/race_category/cannes/.
Complete results list here: https://otilloswimrun.com/results/otillo-swimrun-cannes-results/
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