Today sees Ben de Rivas from Breca, the pioneering organiser of global swimrun events, launch the first Swimrun National Championships in the United Kingdom and New Zealand to cater for the growing competitiveness and popularity of the sport:
“I’m so excited to finally be able to unveil the Breca National Championships and Breca Rankings in the United Kingdom and New Zealand!
Race by race, our events are growing rapidly in competitiveness and popularity. I wanted to create a way for elite athletes and swimrun enthusiasts to compete alongside each other across our stunning courses and recognise the incredible achievements of all the swimrunners taking part in the Breca Series.
One race per season will be designated the Breca National Championship. This will be the prestigious race the year, where the winning Men’s, Women’s and Mixed categories will be crowned the Full or Sprint distance National Champions. The race venue for the National Championship will change every year, with the 2019 locations to be announced shortly.
Alongside the Championships, we are introducing the Breca National Ranking, a points-based leaderboard. Teams will be awarded points for each race they complete, with extra points available at the Breca National Championship race. Following the final race of the calendar year, points will be aggregated to rank the Men’s, Women’s and Mixed teams over the Full and Sprint distances.
This is such an exciting time for the sport. It’s amazing to look back at the 14 teams we had racing in our first event 2015 and compare them to the 630 who competed at Breca events globally in 2018. More and more elites are joining the field and swimruns are quickly becoming the ‘A’ race for our existing athletes. The Breca National Championships are going to be a thrilling competitive arena, and I can’t wait for you to join us on the next stage of the Breca journey. See you on the start line.”
Swimrun involves teams of two traversing trail and open water, running in their wetsuits and swimming in their shoes. It is one of the fastest-growing sports globally, with Breca the first to establish races in the U.K. and New Zealand, and the only swimrun series across two continents.
“Swimrun is all about teammates working together to complete a unique endurance challenge in spectacular surroundings,” said de Rivaz. “You learn a lot about yourself and your own physical and mental capabilities, as well as connecting with nature in a truly immersive way – it’s you and your partner working with and, sometimes, against the elements across land and water.”
Breca offers two distances to race over: Full-distance courses covering 37-54km with projected finish times of 6-10 hours, and 18-22km Sprint courses that take 2.5-4.5 hours to complete. A team entry (two people) costs from £225 for a Sprint and £330 for a Full. Teams who enter three races of the same distance across the season will receive a 30% discount to their third event.
The first event in 2019 is the Breca Wanaka, New Zealand : 16th March 2019
and the first UK event in 2019 is Breca Gower, United Kingdom : 13-14th July 2019
For more information on the Breca National Championships, Rankings and details of races visit the Breca Swimrun website