33.3km of Swimming as a Team building exercise

QUICK INTRODUCTION

FIRST THINGS FIRST: WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO SWIM 33.3KM AS A TEAM?

RASMUS: My idea, but inspired by Niklas' amazing experience a few years ago.

NIKLAS: That was Rasmus. He has always been jealous of me since I completed UltraSwim 33.3 in 2023. He said something like, “I cannot do it alone, I need your help.” Of course David and I are happy to help get him through it. ;-)

DAVID: Oh, that would be Rasmuuuuus (I can’t help adding the extra uuuu’s to his name. It’s just how I pronounce it now.) Apparently, his idea of team building is making three work colleagues/friends swim 33.3km together. I’m not sure what the next seminar looks like, but I’m hoping it involves less swimming.

So there we have it. Rasmus came up with the idea, Niklas provided the inspiration, and David is already questioning the format of the next seminar. A promising start.

THREE SWIMMERS, THREE VERY DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS

The team might be united in taking on the same challenge, but their routes into open-water swimming couldn't be much more different.

	RASMUS	NIKLAS	DAVID
WHAT’S YOUR SWIMMING BACKGROUND, AND WHAT ROLE HAS OPEN-WATER SWIMMING PLAYED IN IT?	RASMUS I did triathlons 15 years ago.	NIKLAS I was a professional swimmer for a few years. I’ve competed at European Championships twice in 50 and 100 breast and 100km. I have been swimming since I was a kid, and stopped my swim career in 2018, only to make a short return in 2023 for UltraSwim 33.3 Montenegro. Besides a few small sprint triathlons when I was a competitive swimmer, the race in Montenegro is my only real experience with open water swimming.	DAVID I did my first open water race when I was 18, and I think I’ve always considered myself an open water swimmer. I love racing. The competition, the strategy, the unpredictability and, frankly, the fact that you can’t see the bottom half the time. I also have shit turns. I’m much more interested in racing than simply getting in the water and swimming a distance for the sake of it. Give me a start line and someone to beat and I’m happy.
WHAT'S THE LONGEST YOU'VE EVER SWUM?	RASMUS 6km.	NIKLAS In pool I once did a 15k session, but longest without any rest must be the 10K in Montenegro.	DAVID In recent memory, nine miles.
A STANDOUT OPEN-WATER MEMORY — BEST OR WORST, YOUR CALL.	RASMUS My best open-water memory was this year swimming with the Bondi Salties and being part of that community for six weeks this year.	NIKLAS The people and the community I met in Montenegro were superb. I remember after the last swim on the final day, how everyone was hanging out on the cliff side next to the finish line to clap at all the finishers. Everyone had gone through so much work to make it there, and it felt like it wasn’t about the competition at all. As a competitive swimmer, that was a special feeling.	DAVID I’ve had a few. I won the Alcatraz swim about five years ago, which was pretty special. One of my favorites was a nine-mile ocean swim a few years back where the tides, weather and training all came together perfectly. I ended up swimming nine miles in 2 hours and 52 minutes and shattered the existing record by about 30 minutes. It was one of those swims where everything just clicked. Conditions were perfect, the training was there and the ocean basically decided to cooperate for once. Although, looking back, there is one thing I can’t stop thinking about: if I’d been wearing THEMAGIC5 goggles, I probably could have taken another few minutes off the record. I’m sure that’s exactly what my new CMO job requires me to say.

WHAT'S BEEN THE TRAINING STRATEGY?

Let's just say there hasn't been a single shared training plan. Three swimmers. Three approaches. One slightly concerning common theme: none of them seems entirely convinced this was a sensible idea.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO — AND WHAT ARE YOU MOST NERVOUS ABOUT?

NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS…

We couldn't finish the interview without asking the questions that really matter.

	RASMUS	NIKLAS	DAVID
WHO WILL BE FASTEST?	RASMUSDavid	NIKLASA trained person with no talent or a talented person with no training… I have to say myself. Although I am not too sure about it	DAVIDNiklas. He swam for Denmark, so surely he has to be fast. I’m hoping the Danish national team paperwork is still valid. Can we also drug test him?
WHO WILL BE SLOWEST?	RASMUSMe	NIKLASExperience has to win — David. I’ll say Rasmus.	DAVIDWell, a triathlete should never beat two competent swimmers. So, unfortunately for Rasmus, bronze is his best-case scenario.
WHO WILL HAVE THE BEST SIGHTING?	RASMUSDavid	NIKLASProbably David.	DAVIDMe. All I have to do is draft off Niklas. Easy. I’ve already solved the problem.
WHO WILL HAVE THE BEST FORM?	RASMUSMe, But David and Niklas are better swimmers.	NIKLASMe	DAVIDNiklas. He swam for Denmark. We’ve established that this is basically a professional qualification.
WHO WILL BE MOST APPREHENSIVE ON THE FIRST SWIM?	RASMUSNiklas	NIKLASMe…Did I mention that I haven’t done a single swim over 3K to prepare? I will have to dig deep to find the way.	DAVIDNiklas. He may have swum for Denmark, but he hasn’t yet had the pleasure of discovering what it’s like to swim 33.3km with me.
WHO WILL STRUGGLE MOST WITH EARLY MORNINGS?	RASMUSNiklas	NIKLASAlso me. David has reached an age where you wake up before 5 for the fun of it. And Rasmus has always been an early riser.	DAVIDNone of us. I’m an early bird, and Rasmuuuuus and Niklas both have young families. They’re already operating on approximately three hours of sleep, so a 6 a.m. swim should feel like a lie-in.
WHO WILL TREAT THE FEED STATIONS LIKE A BUFFET?	RASMUSMe — all-you-can-eat approach!	NIKLASDavid	DAVIDThis one isn’t even close. You’re asking the guy who swam 10.5 miles in Lake Windermere in 4 hours and 2 minutes. At halfway, I ate a tin of rice pudding and four Jaffa Cakes. In one sitting. One stop, Shackley. I don’t see a feed station. I see an all-inclusive resort.
WHO WILL COMPLAIN THE MOST?	RASMUSMe	NIKLASMe. Unless I win over them, then it will be Rasmus.	DAVIDI won’t complain. I’m just quite chatty. Rasmus and Niklas are more reserved, so I suspect they’ll spend 33.3km quietly regretting the decision to invite me. I, on the other hand, will probably spend the entire swim talking, and making new friends. Assuming I can still talk.

SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

There’s only one way to find out. Follow THEMAGIC5 epic swimming adventure at UltraSwim 33.3 #15GREECE from September 18 to September 21.