On Saturday the 25th of March, Wanaka will host the start of the 2017 Breca Swimrun global series for the first time.
The series includes four races in the UK (Buttermere, Gower, Jersey and Coniston) with a format that involves two-man teams running and swimming across islands, lakes and bays. Breca Wanaka will be the pioneer event and a key driver of the of the new swimrun movement in New Zealand.
"Swimrun takes you to some of the most beautiful corners of the world, so Wanaka is the natural place to host New Zealand’s first event. It has everything we look for in a Breca course - it’s an extraordinary landscape, with beautiful swimming and outstanding trails. It’s a race, but also an adventure" - Breca Swimrun founder Ben de Rivaz
 Braden Currie(Photo: Coast to Coast; click to enlarge) |
Having recently competed in theCoast to Coast against each other, friendly racing rivals Braden Currie (NZ) and Courtney Atkinson (AUS) have teamed up for the first time ever to tackle the Breca Wanaka Sprint which consists of 15km running and 3.5km of swimming, and contains 8 transitions.
"After racing Courtney on the XTERRA world stage it will be great to finally team up with him, he’s a great racer and we are looking forward to the Breca format in my home town of Wanaka." - Braden Currie
"We will be taking on the Sprint course this year due to both of our heavy race schedules and priorities in other race formats, so it’s going to be fast and furious racing which we are both pumped for." - Braden Currie
 Courtney Atkinson(Photo: Mark Dadswell; click to enlarge) |
Atkinson is no stranger to New Zealand, racing from the West Coast to the East Coast in February’s Coast to Coast with regular training sessions on our shores in the lead up.
"NZ is so amazing, and Wanaka is one of the most beautiful places to race in. I’ve wanted to team up with Braden for years now, so its exciting that the only two multisport adventure racing Red Bull athletes will be competing together. For us it’s about a new format and getting it done no matter what. We will see how it goes and hopefully partner in future to tick off a few more races together." - Courtney Atkinson
Following Breca Wanaka Currie will compete in XTERRA Rotorua on April 8, rounding off a successful summer season, Braden won Red Bull Defiance in January, finished runner-up in the Coast to Coast in February and came 1st on debut in Ironman NZ on March 4th in Taupo.
