One Water Race Preview: Meet Team 3 – USA
The One Water Race is a fierce 250km race down the Stockholm Archipelago which combines navigation, swimrun and adventure racing.
Participating teams need to excel at orienteering, become masters of the challenges of multi-day endurance racing with an abundance of swimming in open water and long distance running.
Here we meet Team 3 – USA of Chris Wright, Jason Magness, Renee Metivier and Timothy Gorbold.
About the team
Our team, USA #3, got together because our team captain Jason Magness, who owns Bend Racing, reached out to his network of Central Oregon endurance athletes to see who might just be crazy enough to challenge the One Water Race together. Once Jason contacted Renee, Chris, and Timothy, we all very quickly understood the magnitude and epic nature of the race and we knew we just had to give it our best effort.
The biggest challenge you think you will face during the race?
The biggest challenge we anticipate is the thermal cycling on our bodies over such a long duration. Thermoregulatory fatigue is a very serious physiological issue and we see it as a fascinating problem to be solved through both physical preparation and creative gear solutions that involve modification, customisation, and fabrication.
Your top tip for first time swimrunners in training?
By far our number one tip for first time swimrunners is to know your gear and transitions. This means to try your kit, using it for durations that are equivalent to or longer than race, and figure out what works and what doesn’t, what chaffes and how do you prevent it, how to deal with your accessories on the run, and just generally shake out and fix the bugs in your gear. Nothing should be new or a surprise to you as you step to the line.
Your top tip for a first time race experience?
If you’re toeing the line at your first swimrun race it most likely means you have done some training to get you there. Our tip is to trust your training and relax into the experience, enjoy the camaraderie with your teammate, take in the scenery, and have fun because swimrun is a lifetime sport.
