Welcome to episode forty-seven of the Low Tide Boyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

We’re stoked to have Brent Molsberry on the show this week. He’s a race director, adventure racer, Annie Molsberry’s husband, and our tour guide for awesome Swimrunning spots in the great state of Washington.

Adventure Time!

Our plans are starting to come together for our Swimrun adventure in Lake Sonoma, CA. We will start going out there after Thanksgiving to start scoping out swim routes by running the trails the run pretty much parallel to the lake. We will bust out maps and everything.

Shoutouts

We have three extra special shoutouts this week. In the past few weeks we’ve added three (yes, three) new patrons on Patreon. Marcus Barton from North Carolina, Bob K. from Texas, and Miguel E. from California have all come on as supporters of the show. We really appreciate the support and these funds help us cover our production costs (and help justify to our wives that other people care about Swimrun as much as we do.) A tip of the hat to you three.

This Week in Swimrun (Powered by Raceid.com)

Two of our favorite people, Fanny and Desirée (reigning ÖTILLÖ World Champions), are putting on the Champions Christmas Challenge. What is this Challenge? Their idea was to bring some excitement to these otherwise quite dark and lonely times, make this strange Christmas a little less lonely (in a completely COVID-safe way of course) and for participants to get outside, get some exercise in, win some cool prizes, try something new, and help save the oceans in the process.

Event Rules:
All you have to do is move 1 K each day for 24 days. If you make it, you get an exclusive invitation to the Grand Champions Virtual Gala dinner on December 23. (This will be more of an early lunch for folks in the US) 

Weekly Challenge & Prizes - with a guaranteed laugh:

Each week Fanny and Desirée will announce a fun challenge (mostly to do with what you wear during your daily exercise) that can make you earn killer prizes from the event sponsors (even some stuff from The Löw Tide Böyz)! The challenges will be communicated on social media each Monday. 

Documentation: 

To win outfit prizes and picture prizes, you must have a public Instagram profile and use the hashtag #ChampionsChristmasChallenge with your photo and mention @desireedessi and @fannyfromswe in your caption.

So let’s do this! Head over to RaceID.com to register and we hope to see you at the Gala Dinner.

Updates

Our latest column in Triathlete Magazine, The Swimrun Pull Buoy – A Love Story, is out on the digital newsstands. You knew that a dedicated pull buoy article was coming and we delivered! Check it out and let us know what you think.

Looking for something for yourself or that special Swimrunner in your life? Check out our latest Gear Talk episode where we give our thoughts on cool Swimrun-specific gifts.

Do you need some new t-shirts and/or stickers? Are you trying to skip the Black Friday hysteria this year? Head over to our website and use the code LOWTIDE for free shipping on all orders through December 6th.

This Week’s Interview

As mentioned above, our guest this week is Brent Molsberry. We met him in Catalina earlier in the year and have wanted to have him on the show ever since. This interview was part Lonely Planet Guide for Swimrunning in Washington, the part origin story of Ödyssey’s Orcas Island race, and a part recap of Brent’s first Swimrun race in Catalina. This was a fun one and we think you will enjoy it.

Brent shared with us some of his go-to Swimrun training grounds in the western part of Washington. We’re listing them here for anyone that might be planning a vacation in the Pacific Northwest.

Bellingham, WA: 

Lake Padden Park

• Site of the Bellingham Swimrun, this park abounds with swimming and running routes for any distance Swimrun.

Bellingham Bay

• The bay offers some open water Swimrun options.

Larrabee State Park

• This park offers some challenging climbs on the trails but swimming options are all over the place.

Anacortes, WA:

Deception Pass State Park

• There are beautiful bays and lakes that give a nice mix of cold water and warmer lake swims.

Seattle, WA:

Seward Park

• It’s on a peninsula in South Eastern Seattle that sticks out into Lake Washington. There are tons of options for swim and run routes.
• It’s very close to the city so this park is great for a casual afternoon Swimrun practice.

San Juan Islands, WA:

Orcas Island

• Location of the Ödyssey Swimun Orcas Island race but it’s also a great place to just go explore the lakes, mountains, and trails.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player and leave us a five-star review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at [email protected] with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.