Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay Course Preview

<p>Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay Course Preview</p><p>Welcome to episode seventy-six of the <a href="https://lowtideboyz.com/">Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast</a>!</p><p>On this week’s show we have a super comprehensive course preview for Ödyssey Swimrun’s<a href="https://www.odysseyswimrun.com/casco"> Casco Bay</a> 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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>With that as a prelude, let’s get into our course preview for Casco Bay.</p><p> </p><p>THE GREAT ATLANTIC NORTHEAST (IS THAT TERM A THING?)</p><p> </p><p>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<a href="https://www.visitportland.com/"> City of Portland</a> 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!</p><p> </p><p>Getting to Portland is pretty straight forward. Folks can either fly into Portland directly or f