Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay Course Preview

Welcome to episode seventy-six of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!

On this week’s show we have a super comprehensive course preview for Ödyssey Swimrun’s Casco Bay race. We raced Casco Bay in 2018 and we’re super stoked to be going back this year to race the long course again. We will be focusing on the long course in this show but the short course follows most of the same course so we will make sure to cover everything the short course Swimrunners will want to know.

Putting together a course preview for Casco Bay is a challenge because the course has changed every year since it started in 2016 but that’s part of the allure. Casco Bay was the first European-style Swimrun (i.e., Island to island and point to point) in the United States and the brainchild of legendary race director Jeff Cole. Jeff and Lars Finanger partnered up to put on the first race 5 years ago and the rest is Swimrun history. When Jeff passed away in 2018, Casco Bay was renamed “The Cole Classic'' in his honor. It’s safe to say that Jeff would be super stoked with how the sport of Swimrun has grown in the U.S.

With that as a prelude, let’s get into our course preview for Casco Bay.

THE GREAT ATLANTIC NORTHEAST (IS THAT TERM A THING?)

The Casco Bay islands are situated off of the coast of Portland, Maine. The islands are relatively easy to get to via ferry or water taxi service and there are plenty of activities to do for the whole family. Most Swimrunners will be staying on the mainland in the City of Portland which is a great spot with lots of really good restaurants, lobster shacks, donut shops, and tourist destinations. We definitely ate our way through town before and after our race!

Getting to Portland is pretty straight forward. Folks can either fly into Portland directly or fly to Manchester, New Hampshire or Boston, Massachusetts and then drive up to Maine.

NOW FOR THE “MAINE” EVENT (COURSE OVERVIEW)

For a general overview of the Casco Bay course, we asked Lars to share his take on the course and what athletes can expect out there.

Let’s break down the Casco Bay course for 2021.

As we mentioned at the start of the show, the course changes every year so we will try to be as general as possible about the specific islands that Swimrunners will be crossing so they can be referenced in the future in case they are used again in following years in a different order.

As we talk about the course you will notice that we will emphasize that all the distances are approximate because, well, that’s how it goes with Swimrun. The Casco Bay Long Course clocks in at 21.65ish total miles with 17ish miles of running and 4.65ish miles (7,465m/8,164ish yards) of swimming. The Short Course is 12.1ish total miles with 10ish miles of running and 2.1ish miles (3,400m/3,718ish yards) of swimming. The Short Course starts at Long Island (Run 7 on the Long Course) so athletes racing that course can skip the first bit and get a snack and jump back in when we start chatting about Long Island and onward. We recommend pulling up the course map on the Ödyssey Swimrun website and follow along the legs as we break them down.

We are lucky to have a couple of course experts to walk you through the course instead of us. Joining us for this portion of the show are John Stevens: Multisport coach with PurplePatch Fitness and Casco Bay race director/course designer and Matt Hurley: Multisport coach and Co-Founder of Black Sheep Endurance Project. They have raced and won all four editions of Swimrun Casco Bay so we can’t think of a better duo to walk us through the course.

Annotated Long Course Leg by Leg Breakdown with key features of each leg:

R1: Peaks Island (2.0mi)

• Neutral start for everyone for the first .5 mile
• Race starts on low tide
• Rocky entrance to first swim

S1: Peaks Island to Cushing Island (965m/1,055yd)

• First swim will at low tide

R2: Cushing Island (2.3mi)

• It’s a private island that we get to run through 
• Only run that has any significant elevation

S2: Cushing Island to House Island (645m/705yd)

• This swim might be longer than 700yds
• Very rocky and slippery swim exit so take extra precaution to make sure that you have good footing and maybe be on all 4s if needed

R3: House Island (.4mi)

• Another private island you run through an old war fort so don’t freak out by that

S3: House Island to Little Diamond Island (965m/1,055yd)

• First “long” swim of the day
• John Stevens thinks that this swim will be closer to 1,300yd
• Might be a longer or shorter swim depending on where the swim entrance is located
• Swim exit is on a beach by a dock

R4: Little Diamond Island (.8mi)

• Swim exit has a short and steep hill
• Fun factoid: John Stevens lives on this island

S4: Little Diamond Island to Great Diamond Island (325m/355yd)

• This might be a sandbar run for fast and mid-packer racers

R5: Great Diamond Island (1.3mi)

• A fun run

S5: Great Diamond Island to Cow Island (200m/219yd)

• Nice and short swim

R6: Cow Island (.5mi)

• There is a rope that athletes will need to climb one at a time to get onto the trail
• Look out for campers from a Ripple Effect (They are an awesome non-profit that will be volunteering at the race)

S6: Cow Island to Long Island (965m/1,055yd)

• Likely the longest swim of the day, more likely closer to a mile than what’s on the course map
• Swimming directly into the Sun if it’s cloudless
• Current will be going from right to left and will be stronger closer to Long Island

R7: Long Island Part 1 (1.6mi) THE SHORT COURSE STARTS HERE

• Some road running on this island 

S7: Long Island to Vail Island (270m/295yd)

• This is a good swim to push on since it’s short
• Good place to make up some time

R8: Vail Island (.5mi)

• AKA, Happy Fun Island!
• Most technical run on the whole race
• “Teamwork” is required
• Lots of poison ivy
• Stay lower to the ground and watch your footing

S8: Vail Island back to Long Island (880m/962yd)

• Deceivingly long swim with a little sandbar break about 250 yards where you run for 30ish ft and then jump back in the water
• There will be a strobe light to help athletes sight the swim exit
• Swim exit is a tricky rocky outcropping onto the lawn of a private residence

R9: Long Island Part 2 (1.6mi)

• Back on roads for about .5 miles and then you go straight uphill for a bit and then some cool trails
• Pay attention so you don’t get lost 

S9: Long Island to Little Chebeague Island (640m/700yd)

• Strong current pushing from right to left...so aim right
• Might be the strongest current of the day
• Pay attention to which direction the lobster buoys are bending to get a sense of the direction of the water

R10: Little Chebeague Island (.4mi)

S10: Little Chebeague Island to (Big) Chebeague Island (560m/612yd)

• Depending on when you get to this swim it might be a sandbar run or a wade/dolphin jumping or swim across to Big Chebeague

R11: Chebeague Island (Run 1) (4.25mi)

• Longest run of the race
• Some cool new trails debuting for the first time at this year’s race
• Good place to make up some time if you’re a fast running team

S11: Chebeague Island (Swim 1) (650m/711yd)

R12: Chebeague Island (Run 2) (.8mi)

• Get used to some sand running!

S12: Chebeague Island (Swim 2) (400m/437yd)

• Swim will probably be closer to 500yds

R13: Chebeague Island (Run 3) (.55mi)

• This run is on sand!
• Finish line is at a cool boatyard

Lars shared some bonus leg breakdowns for some of the course with us. Specifically, he breaks down the Cow Island, Vail Island, and Chebeague Island sections of the course. He also shares some final words for everyone racing Casco.

IT’S PRONOUNCED “LOBSTA” (TRAINING AND TACTICS)

This is a swim heavy course that will favor strong swimmers. It’s about 5 miles of swimming with mostly flat and non-technical running (except for Vail Island). Everyone we talked to said to swim a lot to prepare for this event. John Stevens recommends doing race simulations to make sure that you are ready for some of those long swims with short runs in between. Check out our episode with Matt and Lauren Hurley for some swim sets that you can do to prepare for race day.

For race strategy, we brought in a team that has raced Casco Bay every year and they are literally the most dominant Swimrun mixed team in the United States. Of course, we are talking about our friends Bronwen and Greg from Team Boston Wet Sox. They share their tactics for executing your race plan. 

SEE YOU AT THE SHACK (Final Thoughts)

Well, there you have it! Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay in a glorious nutshell.

We hope to see a bunch of new and familiar faces in Maine. If you were on the fence but we managed to convince you to sign up, use the code LOWTIDE15 to save 15% on your registration for Casco Bay and every other 2021 Ödyssey Swimrun event.

We’re always trying to improve these types of shows and we’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know what you think. We wanted to give a final thanks once again to Lars Finanger and John Stevens and the rest of the Ödyssey Swimrun crew, Matt Hurley of Black Sheep Endurance Project, and Bronwen and Greg Dierksen of the Boston Wet Sox for their help in getting this course preview together.

That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, 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, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at [email protected] with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.

Thank you for listening and see you out there!

-  Chip and Chris