From founding vision to water safety, logistics to participant support — the UltraSwim 33.3 team brings decades of endurance sports experience, event management excellence, and passion for open water swimming to every event.
The Team
We created UltraSwim 33.3 through a love of open-water swimming and a desire to create a new event that inspires people and gives them the platform to push themselves out of their comfort zone and benefit from it.Our event is incredibly diverse, we always say, it might not be for everyone, but everyone can do it. With the proper training, any determined swimmer can complete an UltraSwim 33.3.The uniqueness of UltraSwim 33.3 is the multi-day aspect of each event. Our races, which are spread out across Europe, focus on point-to-point swims, with the ultimate goal of completing the English Channel crossing distance of 33.3 kilometres but spread over four days. It’s this multi-day format that completely changes the experience for a swimmer.
Swimming can be very single-handed or solo but our experience so far is that of teamwork. People helping each other and willing each other to become finishers and pull together to make it through the four days. We’ve seen swimmers from over 30 countries, all different shapes and sizes and abilities become a solid, supportive community. But that’s the beautiful thing about swimming, it’s so diverse and nothing matters when you’re out there. Everyone just wants to make it to the finish line. For us, it's about creating, building, and maintaining that platform and helping more people achieve their goals. That’s our why. So, show up as you are, join our community and come and nail a 33.3!
Guided by the same founding values of safety, adventure, inclusivity, and exceptional swimmer experiences, the UltraSwim 33.3 team continues to inspire people from around the world to achieve what they once thought impossible.
A global team of world class water safety specialists, kayak guides, logistics managers, medical professionals, and athlete services experts who make every edition flawlessly safe and completely unforgettable.
"We believe extraordinary achievements aren't reserved for extraordinary people—they're earned by ordinary people willing to take on an extraordinary challenge."
From founders to race directors, the UltraSwim 33.3 team brings decades of endurance sport, event logistics and open water experience to every edition.
Mark Turner
Founder and Race Director
Entrepreneur, leader, and marketeer with diverse background from early career Royal Navy Officer, through to 20 years building a sports marketing business (www.ocsport.com) initially with Dame Ellen MacArthur during her sailing years, and in 2017/18 CEO of Volvo Ocean Race. In recent years investing and supporting in small sport or sustainability-focused business as a Strategic Advisor / NED whilst building a new portfolio in open water swimming. Mark has completed some of the classics such as Rottnest, Gibraltar Straits (where he met Nathaniel, co-founder) and Bonafacio Lausanne, Switzerland and Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France.
Nathanial Waring
Co-founder
Open water swimmer and global entrepreneur based on the ‘magical’ island of Florianopolis, Brazil. Nathaniel sold his global luxury travel company and moved to Brazil in 2017 where he runs the Waterman Center, which caters to athletes and digital nomads who want to learn to enjoy the open ocean and its challenges. Nathaniel holds the record for the 19km Tahiti to Moorea crossing and has swum the Straits of Gibraltar (where he met Founder Mark Turner), from Sardinia to Corsica (again with Mark) and many other swims. He spent September 2019 on Montenegro’s Lustica Peninsula, invited Mark to check out the swimming there, and from that #1Montenegro UltraSwim 33.3 was born.
Susie Walker
Managing Director
Susie has been a core member of the UltraSwim 33.3 team since its inception, helping shape the event series from its earliest days into one of the world's leading multi-day open water swimming experiences.
With a deep passion for the sea and ocean-based sports, Susie has dedicated much of her career to the sailing industry. She spent more than a decade working alongside UltraSwim 33.3 Founder Mark Turner at OC Sport and on the Volvo Ocean Race, supporting international team campaigns and major global events.
Whether welcoming first-time open water swimmers or seasoned marathon athletes, Susie is committed to creating exceptional experiences that combine world-class organisation with a genuine sense of community, adventure, and achievement.
Hayley Wright
Operations Director
An avid adventurer, Hayley has a passion for the colder regions of the world, having lived in Siberia and skied the last degree to the North Pole. Since a move to Montenegro two decades ago, she has adapted to the warmer climate of the Adriatic coast. An adventure travel business owner and co-founder of Adventure Race Montenegro, Hayley has extensive experience in the logistics and delivery of adventure sports events and is a strong advocate for client safety in the outdoors. Hayley is a Leave No Trace trainer and current president of the Adventure Travel Guide Standard governance board, which provides education and support for outdoor guides in improved technical, safety, client service and sustainability skills.
Michael Lemmel
Advisory Board (Marketing/Media)
Michael is the Co-Founder of ÖTILLÖ and the sport of swimrun. He swam UltraSwim 33.3 Montenegro in 2023 and continues to come to UltraSwim 33.3 events as the leader of the Media team. His deep understanding of sport, combined with his eye for storytelling, helps bring each event to life both in and out of the water. He is based in Sweden and, as reflected in his successful career in adventure sport, has a passion for the outdoors and can often be found on the Stockholm Archipelago!
If you have swam with us before, you will know Michael for his warm hugs at the finish line!
Remi Duchemin
Advisory Board (Strategy)
Remi is one of the foremost experts and entrepreneurs in outdoor and endurance sports events. With Mark he created the Haute Route cycling series as part of OC Sport leadership team, and has led the expansion of Ultra-Trail running with UTMB international, as well as ultra-cycling through the Race Across series. Self-professed ‘non-swimmer’ Remi is nonetheless an accomplished ski-alpinism and road cycling competitor.
James Bainbridge
Race Director
UK-based James was introduced to swimming at age 2 following a near-drowning experience. Progressing through the usual learn-to-swim programmes led to a successful competitive junior period. He raced at World Masters level with his breaststroker wife, Nikki. James has combined his aquatic experience with his understanding of safety, situational awareness and emergency response, and joins us with Event/Race Director experience gained over the last decade.
Alison King
Client Services Manager
With a background in documentary film, landscape architecture and social anthropology, Alison has great faith in people and a deep love of nature, particularly the sea. When a friend cajoled her into training for the Dart10k in Devon, England in 2023 she discovered event swimming and has not looked back. Alison completed #7Croatia in 2025 and was hooked by the passion and joy she found in the UltraSwim community, as well as by the crystal clear waters. Based in London, Alison joins us as our customer relations manager, to support all the new swimmers and all the old swimmers on their own spectacular journeys at the Ultraswim 33.3 events.
Cecilia Schutte
Community and Sales
Cecilia is an accomplished open-water swimmer based in Cape Town. With expertise in social media marketing, website development, and graphic design, she is also an open-water technique coach and community leader. Cecilia's passion for open-water swimming led her to establish a successful open-water swim group, where she actively contributes to the community. Cecilia holds numerous records in Ultra Marathon swimming, including a 34 km swim in skins which was three circumnavigations around Robben Island. Notably, she was the first woman to complete an Ice Mile with the International Ice Swimming Association and has set several pioneer records in water temperatures between 0-4C in skins. Through her achievements, Cecilia hopes to inspire others to push their limits and achieve their own personal "Mount Everests."
Mollie Graham
Event Manager and Athlete Services Coordinator
Having lived in the Middle East, Australia and the United Kingdom, Mollie has a natural curiosity for places, people and adventure.
From swimming the River Thames to running through the desert, Mollie has been involved in environmental projects, to raise money and awareness for places that she holds close to her.
Through her degree in Arabic and International Relations, she combines her interest in the world with her love for travel. At UltraSwim 33.3, Mollie can often be found on the finish line, taking photos and helping people out of the water or underwater, filming the swimmers go by!
Cléa Moulin
Content Manager
With a multisport background - judo, climbing, athletics, volleyball, handball, and outdoor sports - Cléa has always been drawn to the stories behind athletes and the emotions of big sporting moments, whether on the professional stage or at the amateur level. Working in the sports industry lets her stay close to what she loves most: sharing those emotions across everything from rugby fields to outdoor adventures, endurance cycling races, and ultra-distance cycling and swimming events.Now based in the French Alps, Cléa works as a freelance sports marketing and communications specialist. It means she gets to collaborate with a wide range of sports organizations in an incredible playground for outdoor adventures, events, and initiatives - with endless stories to experience and tell.You’ll often find Cléa following you with a mic and phone to capture the best moments at UltraSwim 33.3 events, and every now and then fishing her phone out of the water after getting just a bit too close to the action!
Neil Maclean - Martin
Physio
Neil Maclean-Martin is UltraSwim 33.3’s dedicated team physiotherapist, joining us at every event to provide expert support, injury prevention and recovery advice to our swimmers. With more than 20 years’ experience in elite sport, including work at multiple Olympic and Commonwealth Games and with international sailing and endurance teams, Neil brings an exceptional depth of knowledge to the UltraSwim environment. As a clinical specialist in musculoskeletal sports injuries and founder of La Clinique du Sport in Chamonix, he works closely with swimmers throughout each event, helping them manage niggles, recover between stages and stay strong across the full 33.3km challenge. His presence at every event is a hugely valued part of the swimmer experience, providing reassurance, expertise and personalised support when it matters most.
We are always looking for people who love open water swimming and enjoy working hard to organise great events. Come and join the crew.