AN EPIC FIRST YEAR FOR ULTRASWIM 33.3 - HOW DID WE GET HERE?!
Hi everyone,
Mark Turner here, Founder of UltraSwim 33.3. As 2023 comes to a close, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on what this year has meant to us at UltraSwim 33.3 and most importantly, what I hope it has meant to our swimmers - both those who are now wearing their 33.3 Finisher Droplets with pride, and to those of you that are thinking about making UltraSwim 33.3 your big goal for 2024!
I started UltraSwim 33.3 for the same reason as every other crazy idea in sport I’ve been involved in for the past 30 years - to inspire people with an event that pushes both the competitors out of their comfort zone, bringing such great emotional rewards at the finish line, and motivates those watching from afar to set themselves those extra ambitious goals - you know, the ones that make us better human beings once we’ve been through the mental and physical struggle of nailing them - whatever they are!
At my old company OC Sport we created a new cycling format for amateurs in 2011, called the Haute Route. For the first time a multi-day competitive (but accessible and for all levels of determined cyclist) road bike event that obsessively stayed in the mountains - across the Alps initially, then the Pyrenees and the Dolomites as it developed. I saw the power that this event had to inspire and change people’s outlook on life for the better. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to apply this same format to swimming… A journey from A to B over multiple days, which whilst tough mentally and physically, brings the participants (regardless of ranking) together as one. A solo effort for us swimmers - even more than cycling (no chatting on the way up for us!) - but what grows into a team effort, with everyone helping each other to cross the finish lines, that ultimately add up to an iconic distance. In our case an ‘Everest’ of open water, the English Channel distance of 33.3km.
Looking at the open water swimming world in 2018 when I started to work more seriously on making this happen, there were hundreds of great one-day swimming challenges all over the world, some iconic, some just local, but all great fun. But almost no multi-day events - apart from a gruelling skins only not very accessible extreme lake to lake US challenge called the SCAR, there was just one called the Morocco Swim Trek (NB not related to the world’s number 1 swim holiday company, Swim Trek). Organised by a passionate swimming and nature lover called Edith Molina, it takes place in a remote corner of Morocco in a kite-surf haven called Dakhla each December. I’ve had the pleasure (and pain!) of doing this super and very wild 30km course between the Sahara’s sand dunes a few times now, and again a few weeks ago as my only personal swim challenge for 2023 (UltraSwim 33.3 has taken all my time up!). Whilst not the same approach in terms of the ‘customer offer’, the sporting concept is similar to what I always imagined for UltraSwim 33.3 - and has equally amazing results on the emotions of the 100+ swimmers that take it on. Edith has been a pioneer, and my first participation back in 2018 reassured me that the multi-day format in swimming is THE category for the future.
Together with my amazing little hard-working core team of Susie in Mallorca, Nathaniel in Brazil and Hayley in the Balkans we managed to create our small scale test event (#1) in September of 2022 and we were blown away by how well the format worked and by the bonds that were created. At first, we were nervous to see how it could scale up to sellout our second (but first public) event #2 of October 2023 in our original venue of beautiful Montenegro - but we weren’t to be disappointed - an incredible community of 120 swimmers from all over the world formed for four memorable days.
We were once again reminded of just how incredible and different the open water swimming community is too - so diverse in every sense of the word - accessible to those also who can’t easily compete in the playgrounds where gravity pins us down, a sport with so few boundaries or restrictions. Amazing people, often with extraordinary back stories, show us the emotional euphoria of nailing a 33.3 seems to help people turn to new pages in their lives, putting painful chapters behind them. We all know swimming has some magical powers for mental health - but our multi-day challenge format seems to be a catalyst to take this to another level.
Our mission is now clearer than ever - be the facilitators for these life-changing moments for many - or simply of course an epic adventure swim challenge in amazing places for others. Either way, we wish to have a lasting positive impact on people from all walks of life, with a common passion for swimming. And do it in a way that helps not hurts the health of our playground, the ocean.
So, to everyone who has been involved in our events so far (and those of you who will be involved in 2024), from our swimmers to our commercial partners, to non-swimming other halves supporting their loved ones passion, I’d like to express a heartfelt thank you for putting your trust in us.
We can’t wait for #3Croatia and #5Montenegro in 2024!
Happy New Year! ✨✨✨
Mark, Nathaniel, Susie and Hayley and the team!