Rockman Swimrun Pyrenees – Race report

We have been looking forward to this race for moths. It looked so cool and it was even more cool doing it.

We where flying to Barcelona and then driving up to Pyrenees and then we checked in at Ligüerre Resort. It’s a magical place and a famous place for weddings.

The day before the race we were out with a photographer and to film a bit of a race video. We saw some amazing parts of the course.

In the evening there was race briefing and dinner and it felt nice to have tested all the stuff earlier in the day so we had everything under control before the race day.

Race day! The start was moved to 9am, we started jogging together from the hotel area before the race started down a steep slope and towards the first swimming.

Down by the water we had a fun surprise, it was strong currents and we went around like in a washing machine before we could swim to the first beach flags. Fortunately, it was in the right direction and we got a good flow right away. Up from the water and into the forest as the first team.

We were running/walking/splashing in uphill in a river for about 40 minutes. It felt more like an adventure than a race. A Norwegian team ran past us after a while but then we didn’t see any other teams. At the top of the river at a waterfall we turned left and up to reach the first check point. It also turned out that the men’s team who ran past us got lost so we were back in the lead.

After the first checkpoint it was a long downhill part and we were running in a comfortable pace. A new men’s team is about to pass us at the end of the hill and we ran together with them to the next swimming. At the swimming we were faster and retured to the hotel and the check point as the first team before it was time for loop nr 2. 

Loop No. 2 began with a technical run over big rocks before we went up to a canyon. Besides the canyon we experienced the most amazing running paths and with a really steep cliff on the side. The run at the canyon ended with a tunnel before we got out on the other side and experienced even more beautiful views. This part was a real struggle for Patrik as he fighted to run up the hills. 

Down to the next swimming and here was the swim to a church in the middle of the water in a big pond. 

After two swimmings here, it continued up. A smaller gravel road led us towards one more church and here were all 3 teams in the lead relatively close to each other. It was hot and heavy and we were really thirsty. Right up at the church all 3 teams were gathered and we ran down together again. The Norwegian team who first ran past us at ran first down and we after. There were small winding paths leading us down to an asphalt road and down to the hotel where we were going to swim the last swimming. The second men’s team were running past us and we came to the last swim as third team. The water that had been really flowing a few hours earlier was now calmer and not at all as high. We saw the other teams go on the side of the water while we tried to swim in the middle. We managed to swim faster than one teams and towards the end of the swimming we toke more and more on the leading team. We get out of the water at the same time as one person in the other team. We started to run while the other the other team had to wait until both are out of the water. We didn’t say much, we just ran. Both of us think the same thing… just run. Don’t think. 50 meters before goal, Patrik takes up the camera and films the finish when we won the Rockman Pyrenees. So incredibly cool! We didn’t expect this at all.