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Creator of the Just Cause and Mad Max games, three-time Chair of the Swedish Game Industry Assn., Christofer Sundberg has weathered some serious setbacks and come out on top. Now Founder and CCO at Liquid Swords he's busy opening worlds for gamers everywhere.Thank you for listening to our podcast all about videogames and the amazing people who bring them to life!Hosted by Alexander Seropian and Aaron MarroquinFind us at www.thefourthcurtain.comCome join the conversation at https://discord.gg/KWeGE4xHfeVideos available at https://www.youtube.com/@thefourthcurtainFollow us on twitter: @fourthcurtainFeaturing the music track Liberation by 505Please consider supporting the show by pre-registering for our Season Two Kickstarter at www.thefourthcurtain.com/kickstarter
Welcome to episode 125 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We are stoked to have Gilles LaFleuriel, founder of TSR Swimrun on the show this week. Gilles does an amazing job calculating The Salamander Rankings and creates a lot of super-niche Swimrun content. As purveyors of super-niche Swimrun content ourselves, Gilles is a kindred spirit and we know that you will enjoy our conversation with him.But first... Training UpdateÖdyssey Swimrun Casco Bay is 7 weeks away and we have been putting in the work in the pool, on the track, and on the trails. We'll be getting in some Swimrun practices in the next few weeks but until then we are working on speed on land and sea/pool. Shoutout/Feats of Endurance ComboWe have a very special shoutout/feats of endurance award for our friend Sarah Fergot. A few weekends ago she tackled the Miwok 100, a brutal 100km trail run with almost 12,000' of elevation gain in the Marin Headlands (A.K.A. our local stomping grounds) and finished the race with just a few minutes to spare before the finishing time cutoff. This race is notorious for its tight time cutoffs and Sarah showed her mettle to get it done under the wire. Major, major kudos Sarah!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 SwimrunWelcome to the LTBz news desk. Swimrun season officially kicked off in Sweden with ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Utö taking place over the weekend. The conditions were classic with chilly air temperature and just as frosty water temps. The new Sprint and World Distance courses looked hard/fun and the podiums were staked with friends and former guests of the show. Congrats to everyone that raced!Over in the UK, Mad Hatter Sports hosted the Hokey Cokey Swimrun. Fun was had by all by the looks of the photos and congrats to all our friends and listeners that raced their first Swimrun at that event. Special bonus shoutouts to Emily from Precision Fuel and Hydration and Tim Wood on racing your first Swimruns! If you want to learn more about Mad Hatter Sports make sure to check out our recent interview with Race Director John Yelland.That is it for this week. Feel free to reach out and let us know if there's anything that you'd like for us to mention on the show.UpdatesLooking for some casual gear to show your Low Tide Pride? Make sure to head over to our online store for hats, shirts, hoodies, and other stuff. As our friend and co-founder of Ark Sports, Christofer Sundberg, recently posted about our swag, this is “the Gourmet Shit of Swimrun apparel.”Gilles LaFleuriel, TSR SwimrunIt was great to finally connect with Gilles. We've been following TSR Swimrun since we launched our Meme account (and podcast) and it is definitely a “game recognize game” situation. He is doing his part to help grow the sport that we love and it was great to hear from him about how he found Swimrun and what led him to start his labor of love, TSR Swimrun. We covered a lot of ground in this interview and think that you will enjoy it as much as we did.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 review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!- Chip and Chris
Welcome to Episode 100 of the Löw Tide Böyz - A Swimrun Podcast!We did it! It's hard to believe that we've reached 100 episodes of the show, yet here we are. We have a very special show this week to commemorate hitting the century mark. We will take a walk down memory lane over the almost 2-year history of the show. If that wasn't enough, we are joined on the show this week by reigning ÖTILLÖ Mixed Team World Champions and World Record holders Desirée Andersson and Victor Dahl, A.K.A. Team Envol HEAD Swimming.There are no words to adequately express our gratitude for you listening to our super niche show...but that won't stop us from trying. “What Does Your Show Do?”Rich Roll was asked this question when he was visiting Minneapolis to cover the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by some community activists. He mentioned that he wrestled with how to answer the question because it was so direct and in the moment. Hearing that struck us by how easy a question that is for us to answer. What does our show do? We get people super stoked on Swimrun!Our Swimrun/Podcast JourneyIt's safe to say that when we started this show in January of 2020 that we did not have many expectations. We knew that we were super stoked on Swimrun and that no one we knew had heard about the sport...except from us. Given our backgrounds in digital marketing and brand building (and crucially, Chipper's previous podcast experience), we thought that we could put out a good show, help people discover and de-mystify Swimrun, have some fun writing the first Swimrun Meme account, and we would see what happened. Our plan was to at least chronicle our Swimrun journey through March of 2020. Our first few guests were friends that gave us the “why not” answer with a chuckle when we asked them to come on. The Swimrun Monks and Team Envol Baywatch were awesome enough to answer our DMs and come on the show in the early months. Our first “get” of a guest was Christofer Sundberg, Co-Founder of Ark Sports. While this interview probably also falls into the “why not” reasoning for coming on, Ark Sports will always have a special place in our hearts for saying yes. When we got to Catalina for the ÖTILLÖ World Series race we began to realize that we may have started something when some “fans” came up to us on the ferry to show us their pull buoys. (Shoutout Colleen, Libby, and Tori!) The weekend just got wilder and wilder and that didn't even take into account the race! Oh, and Chipper got quoted in a New York Times article about ÖTILLÖ Catalina. (Shoutout to our brother and forever favorite journalist, Adam Skolnick!)We were definitely riding high after Catalina and had pretty much committed to keep doing the show and then BAM! Planet Earth got hit with a once in a generation pandemic. We weren't sure what we were going to do at first but quickly decided that we were going to try to keep the “stoke level” high and just keep following our curiosity to learn more about the sport and the amazing people that are a part of it. Along the way, we started the Gear Talk show with Annie and Brooke from the Swimrun Labs (whom we love) so we could geek out about all things gear and help answer all the questions that we had started getting from folks getting into the sport, we launched a YouTube channel to share more info about Swimrun, and our Meme account found new levels of ridiculousness. Well, fast forward to now, it's safe to say that the show is a “thing.” We have tried to foster community wherever we could, we've made friends from all over the world, we've gotten better at swimming and running, and our love for the Swimrun community keeps blossoming. So. Many. People. To. Thank.Now for the longest shoutout segment in the history of the show.First, no walk down the LTBz memory lane would even be possible without the seemingly undying support of our respective wives, Kristen and Susan. Their encouragement/acquiescence on our Swimrun journey has been amazing and we are truly thankful for their support. The support that we have gotten from races and brands including ÖTILLÖ, Ödyssey Swimrun, Ark Sports, Frank Paddle, Precision Hydration and so many others has been amazing. It's inspiring to us to see so many companies trying to grow the sport in the right way.A giant thank you to all the show guests that agreed to come on the podcast. Thank you for your enthusiasm, candor, and perspective. A special thank you to our LTBz correspondents in the field for just agreeing to do that. We know it was super random.Last, but definitely not least, we want to thank all our listeners and fans for tuning in. We're constantly amazed that people actually listen and find the information useful. Obviously, that's what we are going for but it's still surreal to us that we've had over 61,000 downloads at the time of recording and the pace is only speeding up. Thank you all so much for the encouragement, for giving us feedback on how to make the show better, and for fueling us to keep trying to put together good content for you. Our Swimrun journey continues and we can't wait to share it with all of you!Interview with Desirée and VictorWe are honored to have Desirée Andersson and Victor Dahl join us on the podcast for this special episode and we couldn't think of a better team to have on. Not only do they win everything they touch, they are two of the nicest and most welcoming ambassadors of the sport. We chatted with them about how they got paired up (thank you Nicolas Remirez,) how they trained and raced to get dialed in for the World Championship, we talked about their record breaking performance in this year's race, and what the future holds for Team Envol HEAD Swimming.They are great and we think that you'll enjoy this conversation.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 review. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and on YouTube. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback and/or suggestions. Finally, you can support our efforts on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.Thanks for listening and see you out there!- Chip and Chris
Det har blivit dags för ännu ett avsnitt av vår jubileumspodcast där vi med anledning av vårt 25-årsfirande snackar med folk i den svenska spelbranschen. I detta avsnitt hör du Avalanche Studios-grundaren Christopher Sundberg snacka om konkurser, varsel och miljonskulder till skatteverket. Hur Avalanche startades för att bli av med dessa skulder, hur konceptet bakom succén Just Cause plitades hemma vid köksbordet samt kom hur en vattenrädd grabb numera driver ett swimrun-varumärke och med sin nya studio Liquid Swords försöker komma ifrån spelbranschens pengafokus. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fragzone/message
Welcome to the (newly named) Gear Talk: The Löw Tide Böyz and Swimrun Labs review show!In this episode, we do a deep dive into the Ark Sports ORNÖ 02 Swimrun wetsuit.We’ve talked about Ark Sports a lot on Gear Talk and we’re stoked to take a closer look at the ORNÖ 02 suit. Both Chipper and Annie have used the ORNÖ 02 in training and racing so we get their perspective on the suit while Brooke and Chris peppered them with questions. We were first introduced to Ark Sports when we interviewed the co-founder, Christofer Sundberg for the podcast back in February 2020.Wetsuit Details from Ark SportsThe ORNÖ is Ark Sport’s “flagship suit” and it has been tested and trusted by the world’s best swimrun athletes since they launched it in 2017. Ark Sports describes the suit as “a stripped racer with no unnecessary additions. Designed with the single purpose of making you move as smoothly and quickly as possible even through the hardest conditions.” The suit boasts the following features: Premium Yamamoto LIMESTONE neoprene Low weightRunning+ (the material of the bottom half of the suit)Master buoyancy belt - 4 mm AIRAnti-leak construction - totalUltraFlex inner linerGlide skin coatingThe suit comes in Men’s and Women’s specific cuts and costs $480. It includes removable arm sleeves and a whistle can be purchased separately. The size chart on the Ark Sports site is very detailed and both Annie and Chipper we’re able to dial in the right size easily.Swimming ImpressionsAnnie loved swimming in the suit. She was expecting it to not be a cold-water suit but because the suit locks out water so well it worked well in a variety of conditions. The removable sleeves also worked really well despite how thin the neoprene was. Similarly, Chipper loved swimming in the suit and echoed Annie’s experience of the suit sealing out water.The shoulder material in the suit is very thin and allows for full range of motion. Chipper felt like the suit was like a second skin in the water. The lower half of suit which is a different material that the top half didn’t result in feeling cold and was a non-issue.One negative of the suit is how delicate it is. Annie has been using the suit a lot (over 17 times) and she’s gotten several holes in the suit in the anterior shoulders, on the hip seam and in the back of the neck. Chipper’s suit is just starting to get some small tears in the armpit area. Annie and Chipper both recommended pairing it with a large swimrun pull buoy to address the lack of buoyancy in the lower half of the suit, which is very minimal and designed for ultimate running mobility…which we will discuss below. They weren’t sure if buoyancy would be an issue if swimrunners are not using a large pull buoy.Overall, the suit performs exceptionally well in the water. The suit looks great but it has a low safety score because of the color. The suit doesn’t come with a whistle but you can get one for an extra $10. While durability is an issue, it is a very well-engineered wetsuit designed specifically for Swimrun.Running ImpressionsThe ORNÖ 02 performed amazingly during runs. As mentioned above, the lower half of the suit uses a material that Ark Sports calls “Running+” that is a spandex material with some thin neoprene with nylon backing that doesn’t absorb water.Running in this suit was “hands down the best running suit” that Chipper has used. The suit doesn’t hold water and is super light. Annie also felt that the suit was great for running. Chipper hasn’t cabbed down (lowered the top half of the suit for runs) as often as Annie has and it appears that the tearing issues started as a result of excessive cabbing down and up.One potential negative is that the suit has zero storage. While the new Utö suit, Korp and Vigg suits have a back pocket, the ORNÖ 02 requires you to either wear an undershirt with storage or have some other external storage solution. This might be okay for a race with ample energy stations but it’s an issue for longer self-supported Swimrun adventures.Annie’s Pull Buoy RankingFor racing, Annie gave the ORNÖ 4.5 pull buoys. It works exceptionally well for racing and she docked a half a pull buoy for lack of any storage. For “everyday” or overall use, she gave it 4 pull buoys mostly because of the lack of durability.Chipper’s Pull Buoy RankingChipper thought this was the best suit that he’s tried and even seen. He gave it 4.5 pull buoys because of the lack of durability and storage.Overall ImpressionsAnnie and Chipper both agree that this suit will result in a performance advantage for anyone that uses it. This is a great race suit but given how delicate the suit is, it’s not be the best suit for everyday training and potentially worth have another suit that is primarily for training and save the ORNÖ 02 for race day. Annie recommends getting some Aquaseal + Neo Neoprene Contact Cement to fix any tears that might happen from training or racing in the suit. Chipper’s favorite feature of the suits are the running+ leg material and the flexibility in the shoulders coupled with the removeable arm sleeves. Annie’s favorite feature was the running+ material and the fit of the suit along with how great the suit looks. Some suggestions for improvement that Chipper and Annie had would be to include some sort of pocket for storage and include the whistle. They would also like to see better material for the Velcro to seal the neck of the suit.Overall, Ark Sports really changed the game by creating a suit that is now imitated by several of the other brands in the sport. It’s an amazing piece of technology. It’s also very cool that Ark Sports has a demo/rental program in collaboration with Ötillö events.That’s it for this week’s Gear Talk show. If you are enjoying the Löw Tide Böyz, please be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast player. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow our meme page on Instagram and on Twitter. Email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com with any feedback, suggestions and/or meme suggestions. Finally, you can also support us on Patreon…if you feel so inclined.
Welcome to our second Low Tide Boyz swrimrun gear review show! This week we are reviewing the Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy. This review was co-hosted by our friends at Swimrun Labs and we think that you will enjoy this review as we left no stone unturned for this one.We first learned about the Keel while researching swimrun brands to interview for show and quickly became obsessed with this pull buoy once we bought one a put it through its paces. Ark Sports is a great company that we are really rooting for. If you want to learn more about Ark Sports, check out Episode 7 on our podcast where we interview the co-founder of Ark Sports, Christofer Sundberg. The Pull BuoyBy way of introduction, Ötillö rules state that the maximum size that a pull buoy can be to be “legal” for any race is 32 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm. You can even use more than one pull buoy but the total size needs to be the same.The Ark Sports Keel Pull Buoy comes in at 28 cm x 26 cm x 12 cm. It costs 45 Euros or 50 dollars plus shipping to the U.S. from Sweden. (Ark Sports is currently working on setting up U.S. distribution so the shipping costs will come down in the near future.)According to the Ark Sports website, the Keel was developed and optimized by the world’s best swimrun athletes and the swimrun community. Its distinctive shape claims to minimize drag and maximize floatation in order for you to move as fast as possible through water. The pull buoy is made of EVA foam provides massive floatation with a rating of 46.1 Newtons. (The force of gravity on Planet Earth is only 9.8 Newtons.) Needless to say…this pull buoy really floats!The TestWe all tested the buoy extensively in training and raced with the Keel.The Swim Review Have we mentioned that this pull buoy is super buoyant? So buoyant that you want to be careful in the water because if you’re not bracing yourself, you could flip over in the water. The Low Tide Boyz tested the Keel with other pull buoys in the pool it was pretty clear that the Keel was faster than the Ark Sports Pontoon, the Roka Pro Swim pull buoy and a TYR Swim Float buoy by about 5 seconds per 100 yards (this was not a super scientific study). The ladies of Swimrun Labs also put the Keel to the test in a much more controlled trial…that took five days…where they tested 4 types of pull buoys and 1 calf flotation device and found that the Keel was the fastest option. (You can see the results of their study here.) They also found that the Keel was a great leveling agent because it put you in an optimal position for swimming. They experienced some chaffing from the shape of the buoy and the girth of the buoy did require some adductor work to keep the buoy in place. This appeared to be mitigated by using the lasso system to keep the pull buoy in place.The Transition ReviewSwim to Run: This was mostly a non-issue with the Keel. Due to the massive floatation we all recommended making sure your bracing yourself as you come out of the water because the Keel will explode out of the water to the surface and that can be interesting if you’re not ready for it. The shape of the buoy was also conducive to placing it on the hip or back depending on a swimrunner’s preference. Run to Swim: This transition was a bit more complicated. Given the buoyancy of the Keel, it was important to make sure that we were ready to enter the water and start swimming because if not the pull buoy would affect entry into the water. In effect, you have to drown the pull buoy to place it between your thighs if you already waded into the water before being set to swim. Getting horizontal immediately is the best way to get going without having the buoyancy affect you. One point of note is that since the pull buoy is asymmetrical you want to make sure that it’s point the right direction.The big zoom out is to get to know how the pull buoy acts in the water because it requires a bit of practice to understand how it works.The Run ReviewRunning with the Keel takes some forethought. If you’re using the thigh attachment method, it could cause problems on really technical trails getting caught on branches and brush. The lasso/back method resolves that problem, but It takes some getting used to as well. The material of the pull buoy doesn’t slide around and stays in place which is nice.Low Tide Boyz’z RankingsChipper: 4.5 Pull BuoysChipper thinks that the Keel is the gold standard of swimrun pull buoys. It looks good and it durable. He docked some points for the cost and for training with the Keel to make sure that you know how to wield it by the time race day comes around.Chris: 4.5 Pull BuoysChris loved the Keel but docked some points for the cost and the fit. It’s not as comfortable as it could be due to the design. That being said, this pull buoy does make you faster. Similar to how the Nike 4% running shoes essentially make you faster (if you know how to run in them) over the marathon distance due to the technology on board, the Keel pull buoy will make you faster in the water. Swimrun Labs’s RankingsAnnie: 4.5 Pull BuoysAnnie thought that the Keel is a super powerful pull buoy, that looks cool and increases performance. She docked it .5 pull buoys because of those slightly overdesigned elements that could lead to some discomfort for certain body types.Brooke: 4 Pull BuoysBrooke agreed with Annie’s take on the Keel. She arrived at 4 pull buoys by docking .5 pull buoy lost for being overdesigned and another .5 for the cost of the Keel. It’s a little cost prohibitive for people getting first into swimrun when you include shipping from Sweden. All that being said, the performance gains offered by the Keel in the water are undeniable.Overall ImpressionsOverall, we would definitely recommend the Arksports Keel Pull Buoy. It’s pricey but it checks off all the boxes for what a swimrun pull buoy should provide. While it might be slightly overdesigned and not as comfortable as it could be, it’s still an amazing piece of swimming technology. Not only will it literally make you faster in the water, you’re supporting a great brand that is synonymous with the sport of swimrun.
Welcome to episode eight of the Low Tide Boyz, a Swimrun Podcast!This week’s show is all about Ötillö Catalina that happened this past weekend (Feb. 29-Mar. 1).We have something special this week and have two parts to this episode. The first part will be the Low Tide Boyz report and the second part will be the race report from a Swedish Team, Team ARKsouls Addnature, that finished in second place female division. So here we go! We had an amazing and busy weekend scheduled at Catalina. We were almost journalists. We recorded 4 great interviews that we will be releasing in the coming weeks. We met some great people, made new friends, connected faces to names and just had an amazing time. It’s hard to overstate how surreal it was to get so much positive feedback for the podcast and memes. It all started on the ferry ride to Catalina from Long Beach and really didn’t stop until we left. We tried to mention all the people that we connected with while we were there but we’re sure that we missed a bunch of folks. Overall, it was an amazing weekend and we can’t wait to back next year.Episode 8: The Löw Tide Böyz Ötillö Catalina Race ReportWe thought it would be helpful for folks that are thinking about doing the race next year to give a play by play of the World Series distance (31k or running and 7.7k of swimming) race. The course was very difficult and pretty much everything that you’d want in a swimrun race and nothing that you could find in a triathlon.Leg 1: Two Harbors to Isthmus Harbor Beach (2.3 miles or 3.7 kilometers)This leg was a pretty hilly run right off of the bat.Leg 2: Isthmus Harbor Beach to Big Fisherman Cove (1640 yards or 1500 meters) Nothing too tough about this. It definitely felt nice to get in the water after cooking on the run with the wetsuits on. Leg 3: Big Fisherman Cove to Ballast Point Beach (2.9m or 4.8k)This run was pretty straight forward. A little bit of a climb from the boat ramp but then it got very runnable.Leg 4: Ballast Point Beach to Catalina Harbor Boat Ramp (440y or 400m)This was the shortest swim of the day.Leg 5: Boat Ramp to Parsons Landing (5.3m or 9.5k) This was the hardest/longest run of the day. We dropped the suits as soon as we got out of the water knowing that we had a big climb ahead…which we pretty much just hiked/death marched up. (Shout out to the Swimrun Monks and Team Baywatch for the head’s up on this section) It was very steep for the first 2 miles. There was an aid station at the top of the climb (an aid station coming out of the water would have been nice.) Once we got to the top of the climb, we were pretty exposed and it got a bit chilly with the wind but it was nice to be able to run and then had a screaming downhill to get to the next swim at Parson’s Landing.Leg 6: Parsons Landing Bay (765y or 700m) This was the hardest swim of the day. It was very exposed and there were 4-5’ waves going in and out. This was a leg were the true spirit of swimrun really shined. We quickly made a plan of attack, agreed on who would do what and went on to execute. The whole process probably took 30 seconds but it exemplified a lot of what we love about the sport, namely, seeing an obstacle, communicating on how to tackle it and then going out and doing it. Did we mention that this swim was hard?Leg 7: Parsons to Emerald Bay (1.1m or 1.9k)This run was pretty chill and just what we needed after the washing machine-style swim that we just finished. This was about the half way point of the race with some very long swims coming up.Leg 8: Emerald Bay to Howland’s Landing (1400y or 1300m)This swim was pretty straight forward but the water temperature was dropping a bit. Leg 9: Howland’s to Big Geiger Cove (1.3m or 2.2k)This run was pretty uneventful. Just climbing out of the beach to a trail and then keep heading south towards the finish area. We ran this one easy since the biggest swim of the day was up next.Leg 10: Big Geiger Cove to Lion’s Head Cove (1750y or 1600m)This swim wasn’t very technical but it was long. It was also our fastest swim of the day.Leg 11: Lion’s to Fourth of July Cove (2.2m or 3.6k)We ran this swim pretty quickly, mostly to warm up but also because we were feeling pretty good. We passed several teams on this run. We saw our friend Christofer Sundberg from Ark Sports on the run so that also gave us a lift.Leg 12: Fourth of July Cove to Isthmus Harbor Beach (875Y or 800m)This swim was fine but it was a little hard to sight. Luckily there was a watercraft that pointed us in the right direction. Leg 13: Isthmus Harbor Beach to Big Fishermen Cove (3m or 4.9k)This was the last run of the day and we definitely knew that we had the race in the bag. We also saw our first wild animal of the day: a squirrel! (Read: we saw zero bison!)Leg 14: Big Fishermen to Isthmus Harbor Beach (1530y or 1400m)We were both pretty toasted by this last swim and we just grinded it out to the beach. Chipper really carried the load to get us to the beach.Leg 15: Beach to finish line (.2 miles)Crossing the finish line was a sweet as any race we’ve completed together.Overall, it was a great experience and we will be back! We worked well together and supported each other well and achieved the goal. Hats off to Ötillö for putting on an amazing event. One of our friends Marcus Barton made a video of the race that you can see here to get a great sense of the vibes of the day. You can check out the official event photos on Flickr. The Low Tide Boyz will be back next year!That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com
Welcome to episode seven of the Low Tide Boyz,a Swimrun Podcast!We are beyond thrilled to have Christofer Sundberg, a swimrunner and Co-founder of Ark Sports on the show this week. More on this later!We’re just a few days away from the Ötillö Catalina race and we’re ready for some fun! Our training went as well as could be expected but we’re definitely stoked to finally race an Ötillö event and meet so many people that have become fans of the show.We also wanted to give a special shout out to @westcoastswimrun, @swimrunlabs and @this_is_trista for sharing DIY pro-tips for pull buoys and swim paddles. We love getting and sharing this content so tag us and we’ll make sure to spread the word.Now back to this week’s interview! This is the first time that we’ve had a gear and apparel manufacturer on the show and we think that you’ll enjoy this interview about Christopher’s personal journey and how swimrun literally changed his life for the better. He worked in the video game space since 92 and started his own company, Avalanche Studios in 2003. He co-founded Ark Sports with Dennis Blomberg and Daniel Sand in 2017. Ark Sports is a title sponsor of Ötillö and they just recently announced their entrance into the U.S. market. You can read the press release here. After a near-drowning accident as a child and a slew of swimming schools later, Christofer signed up for a swimrun event in 2014 and was hooked on the sport ever since. It was only a few years later that he co-founded Ark Sports. As swimrun became his obsession, he learned that Dennis and Daniel were leaving Head Swimming in Sweden and they started getting their heads together in 2017 with the idea of why there wasn’t any swimrun equipment being manufacturered in Sweden using feedback from the athletes. After they developed their first prototype suits and the two teams that wore the new suits won the World Championship that year! The men’s team of Jesper Svensson and Daniel Hansson won AND broke the world record and the women’s team of Kristin Larsson and Annika Ericsson won by over 45 minutes over the next women’s team. Overnight the Ark Sports became “a company.”Every product that Ark Sports goes through many levels of iteration and they are working to try to be as environmentally-friendly as they can, including the use of Yamamoto limestone-based neoprene. There is still a long way to go but Ark is constantly looking into new materials that could work for swimrun. For example, the Ark Pontoon pull buoy and hand paddles are made from recycled plastic and manufactured in Sweden.When Ark got the opportunity to become a partner of the Ötillö Series, things really took off for the brand. Now they offer a wetsuit rental program at every race in the series where folks can rent a suit and then buy one at a reduced price if they end up loving the suit. This is a great way to reduce the barrier to entry to the sport. (Note: the rental program at the Catalina race is fully subscribed!)Looking to the future, Christofer wants to grow Ark Sports to take on triathlon and the OCR markets and position the brand to grow both in endurance sports and with lifestyle products. A lot of people want to be associated with the brand and their personal touch when they meet with athletes has developed a lot of trust with their users and it’s become a cool brand to be wearing. (We agree!)If you are going to be in Catalina for the race, make sure to stop by to meet the Ark Sports crew and check out their line of products and pick up a pull buoy or three.That’s it for this week’s show. If you are enjoying the Low Tide Boyz, please be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. We are on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcast. You can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter. You can also support us on Patreon, if you are so inclined. If you want to drop us a line, email us at lowtideboyz@gmail.com.
Christofer Sundberg kammade hem miljoner när han sålde dataspelsbolaget Avalanche Studios. I dag har han fokus på våtdräkter och siktar på att bygga det lilla sportvarumärket Ark till något stort. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Reggie Fils-Aimé slutar på Nintendo och Christofer Sundberg slutar på Avalance. THQ Nordic hänger på 8chan. Overkills The Walking Dead läggs ner. Avsnitt 230 av Tredje Gången Gillt innehåller kort sagt en hel del depp. Lyckligtvis har vi även spelat roliga spel, såsom The Ghost Survivors-DLCt till Resident Evil 2, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze till Switch och co-op-spelet Iron Crypticle, samt sett Umbrella Academy på Netflix. Och så har ju Pokémon Sword och Pokémon Shield utannonserats. Bara en sån sak.
Robinhood is giving listeners a free stock at http://games.robinhood.com Get 15% off your first order at http://thirdlove.com/games. Andrea and Greg talk about Red Dead's upcoming additions, Anthem expectations, and more! Time Stamps - 00:10:00 - Housekeeping Thank you to our Patreon Producers: Tom Bock, TJ Meehan, Joebeezer, Trevor Starkey, Mohammed Mohammed, and Black Jack! Friday afternoon, I’m streaming Anthem. The Roper Report - 00:11:24 - New Deets on Red Dead Online’s Update, Jessie Wade @ IGN 00:15:30 - Overkill’s TWD NOT Cancelled. Maybe. 00:17:15 - More Women are watching esports, Brendan Sinclair GIB 00:20:50 - Ubisoft Developing a Female-Driven Skull and Bones Show, Patrick Shanley @ THR 00:26:38 - Former Battlefield Boss Announces New Studio, Jordan Ramee @ GameSpot 00:30:30 - Christofer Sundberg just announced to the team here at AvalancheStudios that I will be leaving the company at the end of April. 00:31:00 - Out today 00:36:52 - ROBINHOOD 00:37:44 - THIRDLOVE Reader mail - 00:38:58 - My question is, is a game "feeling" like a last gen title objectively a bad thing, or is it just a subjective criticism specific to each player's preference? - DJBradChill 00:45:00 - I was wondering: what exactly are the legalities behind using other IPs in a game with creation tools? - Professor Woke - IPs in Dreams 00:52:05 - Squad Up: Todd Williams(PS4) - Bigdubbsbucs 00:53:21 - You‘re Wrong Tomorrow’s host: Greg and Tim
Christofer Sundberg berättar om en lång resa där träning inte alls varit en naturlig del av livet. Utan mycket har handlat om att utveckla ett spelbolag som verkligen inte var en självklar succé i början. Till att Swimrun har blivit en mer aktiv del av hans liv där han har hunnit med att uppleva Rockman och nu varit med och tagit fram det nya märket ARK som var med och vann två av tre klasser på Ötillö. Vi får också höra vad pinnen är....
Christofer är en av två grundare bakom Avalanche Studios, men han har tidigare bland annat jobbat för företag som Paradox, EA och SEGA. I början av karriären handlade mycket av arbetet om disturbing och marknadsföring, men han hann även med att ansvara för lokaliseringen av första versionen av Fifa. Idag jobbar han vidare med Avalanche Studios och inte minst spelserien Just Cause, vilken han ligger bakom. Länkar Stugan VIC-20 Dragon 32 Fifa International Soccer Sierra Activision Starcraft Blizzard Interplay Baldurs Gate Black Isle Studios Fallout Descent Jimmy White’s 2: Cueball Bioware Shattered Steel Target Games Paradox Dogfighter Mutant Chronicles Kult Chronopia Linus Blomberg Elite Valhalla Chronicles Dragon Empires Starbreeze Tremors Oblivion/Korkeken Just Cause Eidos Amuze The Hunter THQ SCi Expansive Worlds Thomas Arnroth Renegade Ops Sega Mad Max Square Enix Rockstar Hunter Primal Gudfadern Scarface Journey Firewatch Braid The Witness