UltraSwim 33.3

#10Montenegro, what a blast!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this event, but I was absolutely blown away. US33.3 market themselves (and indeed from what I can see from meeting the founders, pride themselves on) as a premium and luxury athlete experience. From transfers, to organisation, to communication and even the hotel and meals- everything is taken care of to an impeccably high standard.

The premise of the event is 33.3km- the width of the English Channel at its shortest crossing point- over 4 days of swimming. Depending on the event that you do, that’s 5-7 swims over the 4 days: 2 of the days normally being double swims, one being a cool down/final day, and the 3rd day usually being a Marathon swim (over 10km).

You’re looked after from the moment your flight arrives, through all the briefings, ferried to the start of each swim and back to your hotel again, and of course on the swims themselves.

Our Montenegro edition was troubled slightly by weather, so we had back up plans upon back up plans for the swims! The first day (day 0 really) was just a warm up swim: time to get acclimatised with the water temperature, make a final wetsuit/skins decision, and get comfortable with your assigned tow float.

Day 1 would have originally been a double day, but high winds turned the swim to a 6.7km with 1 feed station. We swam along the shore of the Fjord, ending under an incredible castle/fort in Herceg Novi.

Day 2 was our double day- an incredible coastline swim of 7.9km in and out of the bays on Rose peninsula, before being jetted off for lunch at Mamula Island, then finally a ROUGH 3 loops of Mamula to make up 2.7km.

Day 3: Marathon swim day. I chose to sign up to do this under Marathon Swim Federation rules- but you don’t have to! 10.9km, 2 feed stations, ending in Rose before a lovely pasta lunch overlooking the finish line. This swim was definitely the most scenic and enjoyable- we saw shipwrecks, cold-war era submarine parking garages, and beautiful islands and villages along the coast.

Day 4: A final 5km. This ended up actually being my favourite swim of the weekend; it was a looped course and whether it was knowing that it was the final swim, or that I had finally warmed up into ‘shorter’ distance racing, I finally felt able to RACE. It was tactical, there was pods to draft off, I led my own pod for 2km! There was a fantastic sprint finish, that absolutely pushed me to my limit. We finished on the beach in front of the hotel in the GLOWING sunshine and it felt like the perfect end to the weekend.

I absolutely loved this event, and even more so being there as Red Equipment’s Open Water Swimming ambassador. Seeing everyone wrapping up in the communal robes available at every finish line, chatting about the pros of the towelling robes (which was my most-used equipment of the weekend!) or seeing everyone donning their Red beanies after pushing themselves to the limit in the cold water, it was a magical experience.

Who would I recommend UltraSwim33.3 to?

If you’re a relatively fit, beginner or intermediate swimmer, this is an excellent challenge to aim for either as a first foray into Open Water Swimming, or a tentative step into the world of longer distance swimming. The longest swim (only) being ~10km, means that actually this is an event about recovery and general fitness and fatigue resistance, and not necessarily the ability to swim huge distances in one go.

If you’re an experienced open water and/or long distance swimmer, this is a lovely relaxing swim holiday. It’s so well organised that you feel like a professional athlete, and if you’re taking family or partners along they are brilliantly cared for on the F3 (Friends, Family, Fans) programme. It’s also a remarkably competitive event at the pointy end of the field, so if you’re feeling like flexing your fast twitch muscle fibers over a very comfortable distance, this is the event for you!

If you’re predominantly a triathlete and worrying that you won’t be comfortable in the water temperature, you are going to LOVE it. Water temps of 21-24° (and ours was the latest event in the season!), and 56% of participants wore wetsuits. If you were looking to expand your swimming outside of your normal 400m/800m/1500m, I would suggest that your volume fitness over the amount of training (I’m making wild assumptions here…!) would set you up fantastically for this event.

Would I suggest this swim as a stepping stone to the English Channel? If it’s something that excites you and that you would like to do anyway, then sure! But outside of that, I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is the best EC prep. If that’s what you’re looking for, sign up to my mailing list to be the first to hear when my Couch to English Channel blog goes live.

See you in the water!

Images with thanks to the official photographer on course at Ultraswim33.3.