you're pretty bang on with your assessment -- the handful of us who attempted the challenge had the strategy of conserving as much as possible during the swim leg in order to start the run as fresh as possible. it was very tough to feed during the swim (while treading water, not holding onto a kayak per OWS rules). weather played a huge role in Justin Daerr not making the marathon under 3 hrs imo. it was in the mid 90's during the run on a course without shade, so i'd have to imagine he'd be able to complete it otherwise. Justin still completed both distances. As did Lisa Roberts. Tyler Blackburn (the fastest swimmer on the the day) and I were the dnf's, pulling out 4-ish miles into the run, once we fell outside of 6:52 min/mile pace.

this was a first pass at this challenge so i think Tim is looking to make it more inviting to a wider pool of athletes. whether that means offering more distance options, i'm not exactly sure, but Matt Hanson certainly achieved the "gold standard" by nailing this full distance in the time originally conceived by the fools who conjured up this challenge!

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Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun