The 2018 US swimrun race season offered a variety of courses, some new and others for the third time running, with new formats and an increased level of competition.

To showcase how top teams ranked after a full year of racing, rankings guru Christophe Balestra, creator of The Obsessed Triathlete, culled results from races that had at least 15 finishing teams* in their Long Course format.

Balestra weighted races so those with larger fields received more points than those with smaller fields. In theory, a deeper field, means a more competitive field. Short Course and Solo formats were not included in the rankings this year.

Starting points for 1st place depended on the total teams in the race:
60+ teams: 1500
30+ teams: 1000
<30 teams: 500

60+ races: SwimRun North Carolina (97 teams), Odyssey Casco Bay Islands (69 teams)
30+ races: SwimRun Lake James (42), Odyssey Orcas Island (38), Ignite Virginia (31)
<30 races: SwimRun Georgia (15), Bellingham SwimRun (15), Ignite Maryland (13), Ignite Rhode Island (7), Ignite Minnesota (10), Ignite Pennsylvania (4)

*With the exception of Virginia, Ignite events each had less than 15 teams, but were included as they operated as part of a cohesive series.

Points decreased by 7.5% for every position based on overall placement. So, for example, with a 60+ race, 1st gets 1500, 2nd 1387, 3rd 1283.

Listed below are the Top 3 Teams in Women's, Men's and Mixed Catagories.

Women’s Teams
1st Place - 939 points - Valkyrie Racing, Erin Hunter and Emily Finanger (1)
2nd Place - 732 points - Lethal Ladies, Lauretta Bailin and Kate Bevilaqua (1)
3rd Place - 670 points - Jordan YMCA Multifit, Victoria Dougherty and Kelly Ewing (2)

Full Women's Rankings

In the women’s category, it only took one race for Valkyrie Racing to earn their top spot. They were first in category at Odyssey Casco Bay Islands and placed seventh overall. This gave them a 200 point margin over Lethal Ladies, who won Odyssey Orcas Island and finished fifth overall.

In both the men’s and mixed categories, it took the winning teams three races to find the top of the leaderboard.

Men’s Teams
1st Place - 2745 points - Wattie Ink, Eric Limkemann and Robert Flanigan (3)
2nd Place - 2500 points - Local 207, Matt Hurley and John Stevens (2)
3rd Place - 2000 points - Orca, Daniel Kimball and Marcus Barton (2)

Full Men's Rankings

On the men’s side, Wattie Ink finished first at Ignite Virginia and second at Ignite Maryland, but it was their third place at SwimRun North Carolina that gave them the edge over Local 207, who won at both Casco Bay Islands and Orcas Island.

Mixed Teams
1st Place - 2272 points - Mack Attack, Amy Krakauer and Marcus Carson (3)
2nd Place - 2139 points - AmphiBOS, Bronwen and Gregory Dierksen (2)
3rd Place - 1660 points - soFun, Sonja Wieck and Anthony Beeson (2)

Full Mixed Rankings

In the mixed, Mack Attack won their category at Lake James, were third at Ignite Virginia and second at North Carolina. Banking that third race was Mack Attack’s advantage over AmphiBOS, who won their head-to-head matchup at Virginia by a considerable margin.

One of the most challenging aspects in swimrun is for both members of a team to travel and race together in every race. One example of a consistent top performing athlete who was represented on multiple teams in the listed rankings was Marcus Barton. Barton never finished off the podium in any of the races he entered, but at least two of those races were completed with a different teammate. Because this rankings awarded teams with points, and not each individual, Barton placed third, the scoring he received with teammate Daniel Kimball as part of Team Orca.

In 2019, swimrun in the US will continue to grow in the number of participants and events being produced. Deeper fields will make races even more competitive. Short Course and Solo formats will be included, and weighted accordingly, in 2019 rankings.

No prizes were awarded for our podium getters in 2018, simply recognition to teams for the consistent efforts put in throughout the season.

A special thank you to race directors for sharing results by the requested deadline, to Balestra for organizing these comprehensive rankings and to Slowtwitch for providing a hub where information on swimrun can be found.