Meet The New Leadership of ÖTILLÖ Swimrun

The entire ÖTILLÖ race production team smiles for a post-race photo after the awards ceremony for ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Utö on June 17th, 2023.

ÖtillÖ Update

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ÖtillÖ Update 〰️

by Katie Godec

A CHANGE OF HANDS

The swimrun community was left stunned earlier this year after the announcement that ÖTILLÖ founders Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott would be stepping away from the company. Ladden with a healthy dose of curiosity, I sought out answers directly from the “new” ÖTILLÖ leadership team. In this exclusive interview with owner Dominik Leu and newly appointed Race Director Staffan Björklund, I unpack the questions that I - and certainly some of you - have had swirling around for the past few months.

SWIMRUN SEASON HAS BEGUN

Although Dominik (Dom) Leu and I had previously been introduced by Michael Lemmel at an ÖTILLÖ event, I admittedly did not know anything substantive about him, his background, or his current relationship with the company. And with mere months before the first race on the ÖTILLÖ calendar - how was his team going to put on the same high-quality, high-adventure events that the ÖTILLÖ brand is most famous for? Here are his thoughts:

WHO will help put on races this year?

Christian and I have been part owners of the ÖTILLÖ organization since 2015 and, albeit behind the scenes, have been involved in every aspect of the organization since then. For what we are lacking in local knowledge we have hired Staffan Björklund and his team. Staffan has been involved with ÖTILLÖ from the very beginning, both in the organization and as a racer. He knows the race inside out, is a very experienced race organizer, and brings with him a lot of the local contacts to boat drivers and volunteers who will continue to work for ÖTILLÖ via his relationship.

Anders Malm, the owner of Utö Värdshus and a shareholder in Swimrun AG, continues to be involved with his venue.

Anni Uhl has been responsible for all race logistics since the beginning of 2022. Together with her implementation team, she makes sure that the entire race infrastructure is in the right place at the right time - from boat transfers, racer registration, energy stations, start and finish installations, safety boats, medical tents, permits etc.

Our medical team from Event Care who have been working with our races for years will remain the same. Our media team Jean-Marie Guye and Pierre Mangez who have covered the race as photographers for many years will continue to do so - as well as Otto Norin who has created a lot of the amazing film footage that you know from our videos. Our timing partner, our speaker…..you will see a lot of familiar faces! Of course some relationships were closely connected to Mats and Michael, like Rasmus Lodenius, our film editor for example, who has ended his role after a transition period. But change also always brings new opportunities, and that is also exciting!

Can you share your background with sports?

Christian Pirzer - partner of Swimrun AG

Christian Pirzer and I (Dominik) have more than 50 years of experience in the sports business. Christian started his career in a specialized sports marketing firm in tennis, golf and skiing - organizing ATP Tennis Events, PGA Tour Golf Events as well as Skiing World Cups and Ski World Championships. This company was later acquired by the former market leader in sports, IMG, where he continued his career as Head of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and finally Head of Sports and Entertainment Europe. I joined IMG in 1999 as Finance Director for the German business, 3 years later I was promoted to become Assistant Treasurer in the IMG Headquarter in Cleveland and later returned to Europe to work with Christian in business development in Europe.

In 2008 we started our own agency Tridem Sports which soon was appointed exclusive agency for all rights in relation to the FIS Alpine and Nordic Ski World Championships and, via a Joint Venture company with the International Ski Federation, became the managing company for all FIS events in all disciplines, meaning we were involved in more than 120 events per year in the last 13 years.

In 2014 we created Swimrun AG together with Mats Skott and Michael Lemmel and together with them financed and managed the international expansion of the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Series.

Staffan - What is your previous HISTORY with ÖtillÖ?

I have been part of ÖTILLÖ in many variations over the years.

The first 2-3 years, in the very beginning, I was driving a safety boat and media boat. After that, I participated myself in 7 ÖTILLÖ World Championships, I won one, placed second twice and 5th once. I was part of setting the new standard with Marika Wagner who became the first female under 9 hours when we won the mixed category in 2014.

I have actually already worked as race director for both ÖTILLÖ Utö swimrun and ÖtillÖ Engadin swimrun - the last mentioned is one of my absolute favorites!

The first time I heard of Michael Lemmel and Mats Skott was when I was really young - watching them compete in Adventure Racing on Eurosport and Discovery Channel.

After that, when I was 17 years old I sent them an email for the first time and asked to be part of their Adventure Racing team called Human link. (Love that name btw).

However, it took a few more year until we met in person. I cannot quite remember when & how but we quickly became friends.

I have helped out with ÖTILLÖ since I lived on Sandhamn half of the year by that time and in the USA for the other half.

DO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE MANAGING endurance events?

Since I was 19 years old I have been working in the event business - as a guide, event organizer or race director.

I started Höga Kusten Swimrun, Sandhamn Swimrun and ventured on to organize World Series events in Adventure Racing. I became a certified Adventure Racing World Series race director 2017. Safety is the most important factor when organizing events like this and we have became pretty good at it. I personally will spend a lot of time making the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championships a safe race - and that leads to a fun race! Excluding ÖTILLÖ, I have already hosted 14 other races this year (2023). All are part of our brand Åre Extreme Week and Nordic Islands Adventure Race.

Aerial shot of Nordic Islands Adventure Race on Bullandö

How ARE THE RACE Sign-Ups for 2023?

Registrations are up across the board on all events compared to 2022. For ÖTILLÖ Utö we had 370 peopled signed up -which is more than we had on the start line a year ago. In Engadin it looks like the numbers will be double from last year for this years 10 year anniversary event.

Do you have any exciting PLANS FOR the future of ÖtillÖ?

We are always thinking about how we can enhance the racer experience at our races - both from an event experience point of view as well as racer safety. We have changed the color codes on the race bibs so it becomes clearer who you are racing against. We have also implemented a new live tracking system both for safety and to better follow the races. More compact event areas around start and finish shall create a better atmosphere for all participants.

From 2024 we will continue to drive the internationalization of ÖTILLÖ both in and outside Europe, stay tuned!

Hugo Tormento & Max Andersson crossing the finish line of ÖtillÖ Utö 2023

Sports & RacesKatie GodecJune 26, 2023Swimrun, Fitness, Sports, Race, News, Interview