Claudia Glass, Co-Founder of Swijin
Welcome to episode 180 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!
We’ve got an inspiring episode for everyone this week. We are joined by Claudia Glass, the co-founder of Swijin, to chat about her new company that is taking the Swimrun world by storm. But that’s not even the best part! Claudia had a dream, chased it, and is achieving it while doing right by everyone that is involved in it. It’s truly a great story and we can’t wait to share it with all of you!
But first…
Training Update
The Swimrun rust has been busted. Over the weekend we scoped out a new training ground thanks to a mutual friend that gave us access to her dock. It was great to get Swimrunning again and surprisingly there wasn’t that much rust to bust so that’s encouraging as we barrel towards Ödyssey Swimrun Casco Bay on July 9th.
Shoutout
This week’s shoutout goes to everyone that attended the Nene Park Swimrun Festival this past weekend put on by our friends at As Keen As Mustard events. We heard all about how great the vibes were by our long time friends Bill and Chrissy Lankford, a.k.a. Team Mr. and Mrs. B. They mentioned how it was a very different crowd to the ÖTILLÖ World series with race distances from 5km up to 39km with a lot of people just trying the sport out for the time or building up their skill sets.
Even though it's on the edge of Peterborough, the courses take you into the countryside and mostly use the river Nene which has some tricky entrances and exits and is a challenging swim upstream. Running is on footpaths, fields and graded paths. We rated the courses highly.
A ringing endorsement in our book!
Wisdom Nugget of the Week
When we first begin fighting for our dreams, we have no experience and make many mistakes. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and get up eight times. – Paulo Coelho
Feats of Endurance
This week’s award goes to friend of pod Alex Sigal for racing the 112th edition of the Dipsea Race. It was a lovely day to race a bunch of kids, pro trail runners, hikers, and seniors at the oldest trail race in the United States.
Make sure to sign up for our LTBz Strava Club and join Swimrunners from around the world as they train for stuff.
This Week in Swimrun will be back next week
Show Business
So last week we shared all of our grand plans for Casco Bay and true to form, we’re changing some of them. We are going to bow out from hosting a shakeout because Nicolas Remires from Envol Coaching will be in town and will be hosting a shakeout/clinic at noon on Saturday, July 8th. The shakeout will still be at East End Beach so mark your calendars for that. We will also be turning our Patreon luncheon into a Patreon brunch and we’ll plan to meet at 10am at Standard Baking Co. near the ferry terminal. Finally, on July 9th, we will still be hosting our Third Annual Post-Race Party at 6pm at Brickyard Hollow located at 9 Commercial Street close to the ferry terminal.
You don’t need to be on a texting basis w/ the Boyz to get a hookup from Precision Fuel and Hydration before Casco Bay or whatever race you might be doing. Need hydration and/or fuel to go along with your new shiny plan for race day? Click on this link to save 15% off of your first order. Also, make sure to check out their free online race nutrition planning tool to help you prepare for race day.
We had an idea for an episode called “When Life Imitates Memes” and we want your help! Did a dog literally bite you in the butt during a race? Did you think that something poked you in the water only to realize that it was your partner’s paddle? You get the idea. All you have to do is send us a DM or email with an audio clip of your funniest/weirded Swimrun experience for a chance to get it shared on that forthcoming episode.
Claudia Glass, Co-Founder of Swijin
This is one of the coolest stories that we’ve shared on the show. Claudia shared the origin story of Swijin and how she turned an idea that came to her during a run in Mallorca and turned it into a business that is doing everything right. Like most successful origin stories there was a lot of passion, some serendipity, and a lot of hard work. We don’t want to spoil it, but if you’re not rooting for this brand after listening to this interview, we recommend that you listen to it again.
One thing that we didn’t touch on during the interview was where the name Swijin came from. It was inspired by the Shinto Goddess of Clean Water - Suijin. She switched out the U for a W for Swimrun, Switzerland, and Sweden (where the sport originated.) In what we can now say was a classic Claudia move, she was worried about cultural appropriation, so she contacted a Shinto priest in Kyoto and he not only gave her his full blessings, but encouraged her to come and pray at the Suijin Temple in Kyoto.
Check out Swijin on their website.
Enjoy!
~~~
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 rating and review since that’s the best way for people to discover the show and the sport of Swimrun. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and on YouTube. Check out our website for Swimrun resources including gear guides, tips, how-to videos and so much more. Also make sure to check out our meme page @thelowtideboyz on Instagram. If you have any suggestions for the show or questions for us, send us a dm or an email at lowtideboyz@gmail.com. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.
Thanks for listening and see you out there!
- Chip and Chris