Swimrun in Greece: what it is and where to race

What swimrun is: alternating swim and run legs, no change of gear

According to Wikipedia, swimrun began in 2002 on the island of Utö, Sweden, from a bet between Anders Malm, Janne Lindberg and staff at the Utö Värdshus hotel: "Last team of two to Sandhamn pays for hotel, dinner and drinks." That informal wager evolved into the first commercial race in 2006, ÖtillÖ ("island to island"), a 75km course across 26 islands — a race CNN later ranked among the toughest endurance races in the world.

The feature that sets swimrun apart from triathlon or aquathlon is that there is no transition zone: athletes swim wearing their shoes and run wearing their wetsuit, carrying all their equipment with them from start to finish. Wikipedia describes at least two swim legs and two run legs, alternating, as a defining feature of the format — this is exactly what separates it from aquathlon, which has only a single swim leg. By 2018, again per Wikipedia, there were more than 500 known swimrun races in 24 countries and on 5 continents.

The same description, in different words, appears on the official page of a Greek swimrun race, FROGMAN: "at FROGMAN you run and swim as you are. No changes, no help, only you, your body and your mind."

The rules: what ÖtillÖ, the race that defined the format, actually says

ÖtillÖ, the Swedish race that founded the sport, publishes its own detailed "Competition Rules," which remain the most complete written rulebook for swimrun internationally — not necessarily binding on every Greek race, but the sport's reference point.

• Format: teams of two, or solo; if racing in a team, athletes must "stay together at all times and not be more than 5 meters apart" — a proximity rule, not a mandatory tether.
• Mandatory equipment per team: 1 waterproof first-aid pressure bandage, 2 wetsuits (one per person — optional if water temperature exceeds 19°C), 2 easily accessible whistles, 2 foldable cups or soft flasks.
• Pull buoys are capped at a maximum size of 32 x 30 x 15cm; fins are banned outright — a violation is assessed by the race jury and can range from a time penalty to disqualification or suspension, depending on severity.
• Minimum combined air and water temperature: 20°C. Below that, two race directors and one member of the organization jointly decide whether it is safe to start, modify the course, or cancel.

Official recognition: swimrun joins World Triathlon

In October 2025, at the World Triathlon Congress in Wollongong, Australia, members approved two new disciplines under the world federation's umbrella: Fitness Racing (from HYROX) and swimrun — which, per World Triathlon's own announcement, "adheres to the format of Swedish-originated Ötillö — translating as island-to-island — racing." It is the first time the sport has joined a major, Olympic-track multi-sport federation — the World Swimrun Federation (WSRF) itself has existed since 2015, based in Switzerland.

In Greece, the Hellenic Triathlon Federation (ΤΟΕ) does not yet mention swimrun on its general "The Sport" page — that page describes only classic triathlon, Duathlon (Δίαθλο) and Aquathlon (Άκουαθλο). Two of the catalog's 7 swimrun entries — FROGMAN Genesis and FROGMAN Home, 2026 editions — cite the federation's official 2026 Domestic Race Programme (PDF, revision 8, May 2026) as their source, accessible from the federation's own "Domestic Race Programme" page — but that page today links a newer revision of the same PDF (revision 11, August 2026); the two races' listing in that newer revision has not been re-confirmed, so these two entries are flagged here for a recheck rather than treated as fully confirmed against the current live source. The remaining 5 entries cite the organisers' own official pages directly (FROGMAN or TRIMORE).

The 7 swimrun entries in the bib2bib catalog

This list is pulled directly from the bib2bib catalog (discipline "SWIMRUN"), not typed by hand, and clusters around two locations: Corinthia (the FROGMAN series) and Hydra (TRIMORE). All 7 pass bib2bib's indexability rule (an official source, no "discovery-lead" entries), so every one has its own race page.

• FROGMAN GENESIS 2026 — 17 May 2026, Corinthia — "Sprint / SwimRun" (the source, the federation calendar, gives no distance split here — see below for the actual kilometres from FROGMAN's own page) — already held (status as of 29/9/2026) — /en/races/tri-frogman-genesis-2026
• FROGMAN HOME 2026 — 14 June 2026, Lake Doxa, Corinthia — "Sprint / SwimRun" (same note on the source) — already held (status as of 29/9/2026) — /en/races/tri-frogman-home-2026
• FROGMAN PRINCE 2026 — 27 September 2026, Corinthia (Kalamia beach) — 16km (RUN 13.7km + SWIM 2.3km) or Sprint 6km (RUN 4.6 + SWIM 1.4) — already held (status as of 29/9/2026) — /en/races/tri-frogman-prince-2026
• TRIMORE M.T. SwimRun Hydra 2026 — 31 October 2026, Hydra — 4 distances: 7.5 / 12.8 / 23.4 / 38.7km — /en/races/tri-trimore-hydra-2026
• FROGMAN KING 2026 — 29 November 2026, Corinthia (Amoni to Almyri) — 22km (RUN 18.3 + SWIM 3.7) or Sprint 9km (RUN 7.65 + SWIM 1.35) — /en/races/tri-frogman-king-2026
• FROGMAN GENESIS 2027 — 16 May 2027, Fragkolimano, Corinthia — 15km (RUN 12 + SWIM 3) or Sprint 6.5km (RUN 5 + SWIM 1.5) — /en/races/swimrun-frogman-genesis-2027
• FROGMAN HOME 2027 — 13 June 2027, Lake Doxa, Corinthia — 17km or Sprint 9km — /en/races/swimrun-frogman-home-2027

The FROGMAN Swimrun Series Championship: four races, one championship, in Corinthia

6 of the catalog's 7 entries belong to the FROGMAN series, organised by Triathlon Club Corinth Canal in partnership with Athlos Sports & Events. The official page describes it as "the Championship decided in the water, on the run, and in the mind": four races a year (Genesis, Home, Prince, King), with each athlete's three best results counting toward the final standings, across four title categories — Men Long Distance, Women Long Distance, Men Sprint, Women Sprint.

Every FROGMAN race is solo ("Solo Swimrun"), not in pairs — a departure from ÖtillÖ's classic team rule above. Mandatory equipment is the same across the series, per the official Prince and King pages: a swimrun suit or trisuit, a swim cap (provided by the organiser), a bib vest with the race number (provided, returned after the race) and pull buoys; paddles are optional.

The catalog's two 2026 editions (Genesis, Home) are sourced to the federation calendar, which gives no swim/run distance split. The official FROGMAN PRINCE page itself, however, publishes the full 2026 season distance table: Genesis 15km (Sprint 6.5km), Home 17km (Sprint 9km), Prince 16km (Sprint 6km), King 22km (Sprint 9km) — the exact same figures the catalog records directly, sourced to their own official pages, for the 2027 Genesis and Home editions. For Prince itself, the catalog also flags that the race's own promotion had at one point stated "17km" — different from the 13.7+2.3=16km split and from the "Long 16km" figure in the current table; this guide follows 16km, matching what the official page shows today.

Home is the series' only freshwater race: Lake Doxa is an artificial lake at 900m elevation, in the area of ancient Feneos, with a maximum depth of 30–40m per Wikipedia — very different conditions from the Corinthian Gulf, where the other three FROGMAN races take place.

• FROGMAN PRINCE cutoffs: 4 hours for the long distance, 2 hours for the Sprint.
• FROGMAN KING cutoffs: 6 hours for the long distance, 3 hours for the Sprint.

TRIMORE SwimRun Hydra: the catalog's only island swimrun, with pairs

Hydra is the only island venue for swimrun in the catalog. TRIMORE M.T. SwimRun Hydra 2026, on 31 October, offers four distances per the official registration page: Rookies 7.5km (7km run + 0.5km swim), Initiation 12.8km (10.8 + 2), Core 23.4km (19.7 + 3.65 — the page itself links it to half the distance of the "My SwimRun" world championship) and Advanced 38.7km (33.9 + 4.8).

Unlike the FROGMAN series, TRIMORE offers both solo entries and pairs — the official page explicitly states "NEW SOLO and Team" for the Core distance, plus a "Find Teammates" feature for those looking for a race partner, closer to ÖtillÖ's classic two-person rule.

Hydra bans all wheeled vehicles on the island, "including but not limited to cars, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, and e-bikes," per Wikipedia; getting around is on foot, by animal, or by boat.

When to go: season and water temperature

Greece's swimrun season, as the catalog shows it, runs from May through November. The Corinthian Gulf figures below are multi-year monthly averages from Seatemperature.org for Loutraki — the nearest logged coastal location on the same gulf as FROGMAN's Kalamia and Almyri beaches, not a reading at the exact start line. For Lake Doxa, a freshwater lake at 900m elevation, no equivalent public temperature source exists — this guide does not guess a number. Status as of 29/9/2026: of the 2026 editions below, Genesis (17/5), Home (14/6) and Prince (27/9) have already taken place; the only still-open dates in the series are FROGMAN King (29/11/2026) and the 2027 Genesis and Home editions.

• May (Genesis, Corinthian Gulf): average 18.8°C — the 2026 edition has already taken place.
• June (Home, Lake Doxa): freshwater, mountain lake at 900m — no official water-temperature reading found; the 2026 edition has already taken place.
• September (Prince, Corinthian Gulf): average 25.3°C — the warmest point of the swimrun season; the 2026 edition (27/9) has also already taken place.
• October (TRIMORE SwimRun Hydra, Hydra): average 22.2°C, per Seatemperature.org for Hydra itself.
• November (King, Corinthian Gulf): average 19.6°C — the coolest point of the season, and the only FROGMAN 2026 date still ahead.

What this guide does not include

• It is not a complete global or national swimrun rulebook — it presents ÖtillÖ's rules as the most detailed public reference text, not as binding regulations for every Greek race.
• It gives no training, nutrition or medical advice for swimrun.
• It does not publish any athlete's bib number.
• It uses no personal athlete details beyond public competition facts already published by official sources.
• Prices, start times and entry terms change — each event's own official page always takes priority over what is written here.