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Öresund Sound Swim by Marcia Cleveland with details for Karen Lundgren included Time for Marcia 7:59:09 (Tuesday August 12, 2025) Time for Karen: 6:13:18 (Monday August 11, 2025) Water: 65F, 18C; Air: 60-68F, 15-20C Partly Cloudy Wind for Marcia: West 9 MPH/14.5 KPH (14 MPH/22.5 KPH gusts) to Southeast 10 MPH/16 KPH (14 MPH/22.5 KPH gusts) Wind for Karen: West 10 MPH/16 KPH Marcia’s Crew: Karen Lundgren, Nate Field Karen’s Crew: Jordie Field, Emelia Field, & Nate Field (her husband & children) Boat & Pilot: Nemo & Charlotte Ledgaard Steffensen [email protected] Observer & Organizer: Dennis Holm [email protected] Solo Finisher: Karen 12th, Marcia 13th & Oldest Person to Finish Female: Karen 7th, Marcia 8th View these 2-minute videos for Visuals and Reflections of our Swims. https://swimoresund.com/2025/08/marcia-cleveland/ https://swimoresund.com/2025/08/karen-lundgren/ Reflections on Öresund Sound 1 Reflections on Öresund Sound 2 Swim Start: Bellevue Beach, Strandvejen Road, Klampenborg, just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is directly opposite Bellevue Teatret (free parking is available here for anyone watching from the beach.) Swim Finish: North of Marina at Barsenbäckshamn Beach, Koggavägen Road, Kävlinge, Sweden. Many thanks to Kathleen Greene Wilson for all the advice on this swim and about Copenhagen. She hosted us for our qualifying swim in Charleston, South Carolina in March. She also runs the Swim Around Charleston, a 12-mile event held every fall. https://www.swimaroundcharleston.org/ We’ll be there some year! Introduction: The Öresund Sound Swim is a straightforward, 20 Kilometer (12.5 miles) swim, manageable for most well-trained athletes. After my completion of the Oceans Seven Series in May 2025, this was a perfect follow-up swim for me and a good first marathon swim for Karen. Karen and I began to discuss doing this swim in Summer 2023 and started to plan in earnest the following summer. When we trained together in Open Water, we swam tandem (next to one another) and were often stroke-for-stroke. At the end of October 2024, we did a 2-hour swim in 55°F/13°C water. By the end of November, we had swum several mile swims in water measuring 51°F/10.5°C; I knew Karen would be ok with the Öresund temperatures in August 2025. During the 6-hour Qualifying Swim in 60°F/15-16°C water in March 2025, after shifting her pitying thoughts from “Gee, I’m feeling cold,” around the 3-hour mark to a confident “I’m going to make this swim,” Karen was developing what it would take to complete the Öresund Sound Swim. More solid training ensued over the next four months and by the time we left Chicago in early August, Karen was ready to go. (P.S. I was too.)
 The Swim Details: On Monday. August 11th, Karen Lundgren, sailed across the Öresund Sound in 6 hours, 13 minutes. She was pushed by a nice west 10 MPH/14 KPH wind the whole time and made the most of her ideal opportunity. Twenty-four hours later, Mother Nature gave me a different set of conditions. As always, I am grateful to have made it, but even more grateful that I got the day I did and not the other way around, since this was Karen's first marathon swim. The routine goes like this: When you arrive in Denmark, you contact the swim organizer, Dennis Holm, and he gives you the low-down on the possibilities of when a swim may happen. It is about the wind and the current. For us, it looked like we would swim early in our window, beginning on August 11th. Karen and I had made the decision that she would go on the first available day. I wanted her to have the opportunity to complete this swim, especially if optimal weather would be available. Because we each would be swimming this solo, we only brought one set of equipment, which worked out well. Since our pre-swim routines were identical, I’ll only write them once. When we received word that Karen was a definite for Monday, (I would go on Tuesday) we packed the gear, then I had a meeting for Karen’s crew to bring them up to speed. Wisely, we rented a car for two days to get to/from the marina, packed said car, and Karen settled down for a rough night of sleep. In the morning, we ate breakfast and then departed for the marina at 7am for an 8am meet up with the boat. (My timing would be a half an hour earlier the next day.) Charlotte had not yet put the RIB into the water when we arrived so we did the bathroom thing and brought the gear to the dock. The Escort Boat:
The boat was then loaded up, Charlotte and Dennis gave the safety talk and swim rules, then the boat motored 10 minutes north to the start. From there, the swimmer is readied, jumps off the boat, and swim the 100 or so yards/meters into Bellevue Beach to begin the swim “where there is no water behind.” Lots of local swimmers and many dog walkers ignored what was going on. Karen's sister, Catherine, and I greeted Karen, gave her one of the shells we had collected in Charleston, South Carolina, and she dropped it in the water as she began her swim. (I went through the same start procedure the following day.) Then we both swam 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) across Öresund Sound and walked up on a beach in Sweden. You can stop reading now if that’s all you want to know.
When my swim began, I knew the water wasn't as fast as the previous day’s, but “You get what you get and you don't get upset.” For the first hour I could easily see the sandy, rocky bottom which took seemingly forever to drop off. As always, I spent a great deal of time wondering what I was doing there. This attitude continued for about two hours, when I had finally warmed up and was making sufficient progress to feel like I was “almost there.” At this point, the western wind started steadily veering to the south, a shift that arrived several hours earlier than forecasted. With it, the speed and angle of the waves changed from offering a slight western push to the beginning of continual southern waves rapidly battering into me; they remained uninvited guests for the rest of the swim. Later that night, around 7 PM, my husband, Mark, was looking at Windy.com and noticed a 270° shift in the wind from the time I began my swim at 8 AM that morning. The wind has started the day blowing from the west, then took swung around to the south, and eventually settling up north by the evening. I have come to love Mother Nature’s plan for me whenever I’m in the water! Around half-way across, I could see a large cargo ship bearing down on us from the north. I could also see Charlotte on the radio and looking towards this ship so I knew she was talking with the captain of this ship to determine on which side of us the ship would pass and I was confident about a safe outcome. Karen and Nate had never experienced anything like this: our little tiny RIB was in radio-communication with this big mother ship, which just so happened to be from Estonia, to determine who goes where. The captain understood that there was a “swimmer in the water” and graciously passed us about 100 meters to the rear so I did not have to swim head-on through the wake created by the ship. It was fun to see Karen and Nate learned in real time how nautical protocols play out on the water. As Mother Nature worked on her antics, my feeding plan got underway. Beginning at the first hour, Karen fed me, then did so every 45 minutes thereafter: at 1:45 2:30, 3:15, 4:00, and 4:45. (Time in a swim is always stated as elapsed time from the start, not time of day.) A “feed” comes by way of a long line (a “rope” in non-seaman’s terms) that has a Contigo bottle filled with my drink carabineered to it, and an opened gel strapped to the bottle with a silicone bracelet. The other end of the line is carabineered to either the person throwing the line, or the boat. When I am done consuming all, I drop the bottle and it gets pulled back to the boat. After the feed at 4:45, we decided to switch to feeds approximately every 30 minutes because I needed some “pep” to replenish what the battering waves were taking out of me. I received these at 5:25, 5:55 6:25, 7:00, and 7:30. Karen and I had identical feeding plans, except that she stayed on the 45-minute interval. This made carrying our equipment across the Atlantic from Chicago much easier. All my feeds were under a minute and consisted of about 10 ounces of Endurox, each with a splash of very hot water from a Hydro-flask, and a Hammer Gel of various flavors. Lastly, I took a quick rinse of mint mouthwash, which helps combat mouth swelling brought on by prolonged submersion in salt water. I received an Aleve at 4 hours and an espresso gel at 3:15, 4:45, and 5:55. I got 2 Stingers at 4:00 and 5:25, and one* at 6:25. There were other foods on the boat but I wasn’t miserably bored with what I was eating and it seemed to be effective for me so I stuck with “The Plan.” Afterwards, motoring back to Denmark, I scoffed down two fluffy dinner rolls which tasted delicious! * Nate ate some of my Stingers thus breaking one of the big Swimming Commandments: “Thou Shalt Not Eat the Swimmer’s Food.” A more abominable offense would have been to Eat the Swimmer’s Food within the Swimmer’s View. He knows better now and all is forgiven. Aside from this learning opportunity, Nate was an awesome crew member. The water remained a beautiful yellowish-greenish color throughout the swim and abounded with phytoplankton. I also encountered lots of loose sea grass plus a few jellies lurking lower down - they didn’t present any issues. But looking continuously into all this phytoplankton felt like I was gazing into the cosmos on a spectacularly starry night, enveloped by this sliver into the natural world. So there I was: swimming in the waters between Denmark and Sweden, happy with my current view of the world, and stroking on and on and on and on. I can see my boat and crew with every breath. I can see the beautiful phytoplankton show below. I Breathe, take 3 strokes, Breathe again, take 3 more strokes, Breathe, 3 strokes, Breathe, and on and on. This continuous mental and physical rhythm allows time to pass quickly. Five minutes before every feeding, Karen gave me a hand signal indicating as much. At that point, I switched my count to 3-2 trying to complete over 300 strokes in the 5 minutes, and Karen knows it. Three strokes, Breathe, Two strokes, Breathe; do that twice and it’s 10 strokes. Count this cycle thirty times – pressing down on consecutive fingers – and 300 strokes add up quickly. Feeding Bottle now, please. At the four-hour mark, the crew asked me if I wanted to know the time and how far I’d come. I replied, “No, I’ll wait until the next feed. That will give me something to look forward to.” At the next feed, I said, “I guess we're over a kilometer off Denmark at this point.” Charlotte and Dennis laughed and told me I had less than 7 kilometers to swim. I calmly said, “Two more hours to swim.” Over the next hour, I covered 2000 meters, a 50% drop in speed from the first hour. Though my stroke rate (65-68) and pace (1:40-1:45/100 meters) remained fairly consistent throughout the entire swim. I was doing the math and knew how much Mother Nature was messing with me. Around the time Charlotte and Dennis told me I had less than 7 kilometers to go, I was certain I could see the bottom. Afterwards, I looked on a chart and discovered that we were actually over a shallow shoal about 10 meters deep, versus the deeper water (40 meters/ 130 feet) found mid-swim. The bottom again soon receded and I kept going. When I heard similar news of my progress 30 minutes later, again I calmly said, “Two more hours to swim.” In the next half an hour, I covered 900 meters, thus I responded, “Two more hours to swim.” Dennis was taken aback, not believing what he was hearing, but at the same time quite amused. I simply couldn’t let myself think this swim was going to be over any time soon because the current and waves pushing into me were not making this a proverbial “Walk in the Park.” We all have choices about how to react to any situation and I accepted the reality of mine. It was going to take as long as it was going to take and I was going to make it. No sense complaining. Onwards! In the half an hour after that (we’re at 6:25, in case you’re counting,) I swam 1000 meters, followed by 1200 more meters in the next 30 minutes. At the 7:30 feed, and what would be the last feed, I requested to switch to the lee side of the boat and Charlotte thought this was a good idea. With the boat slightly sheltering me from the waves and the current, I was able to finish the final 1500 meters in 29 minutes. I felt like I had water skis on! At one of the last feeds, Charlotte tried to explain the finish but her description was lost on me. I knew we were at least headed in the right direction. My left shoulder and neck were pretty achy by now, even though I had done a good job not looking forward and keeping my eyes down for close to 8 hours. Finally, I took a real look ahead when I saw the buoy indicating the beach’s swim area, about 200 meters off the Swedish shore. Once again, I aimed for the small beach in front of me, (think: Scotland, New Zealand.) The water got shallow and I swam over some rocks with what looked like aqua blue sunflowers scattered across them. In the shallows of the shoreline, I had to drag myself over rough rocks so I wouldn't fall, as I had done in Hawai’i. Carefully, I got to my feet, took a step onto the beach where there was “no water in front of me,” and heard the horn sound. Like the ringing of bells when an angel gets her wings, another swim had just been completed. What Charlotte had tried to explain to me earlier was that there is a nice sandy exit along the right-hand side of the beach next to the pier. Easy finish, no chance of falling. Of course, Karen had walked out of the water this way the day before. If there’s a harder way, I’ll find it. On my swim, Karen swam in behind me and we collected some souvenir rocks and shells. A local man asked what we were doing, and when he learned of our swims, he took our picture as “Two Öresund Swimmers”, and said he was going to submit it to the local paper – Yahoo! Then we took the short, easy walk to where the boat had tied up at the small Marina adjacent to the pier. Dennis took some more pictures and gave me a finisher’s medal. We changed into dry clothes, took a few more pictures, and headed back to Denmark. All good. Dennis had tracker on the boat that allowed the online universe to follow our progress so folks near and far knew both Karen and I had made it. This was also the only link to our live whereabouts. Since the boat was not registered on Marinetraffic.com, if there had been a problem, four of us might have been swimming to Sweden that day. Öresund is a good swim and I believe it is going to take off in popularity soon. I made several suggestions as to where improvements on this swim could be made and I wish Dennis and Charlotte all the best. Charlotte did a good job positioning the boat alongside me. This is her job as the pilot. My job as the swimmer is to swim parallel to the boat. I believe that had I been put on the lee side of the boat when the wind started to change, the final four hours may have been closer to three. There were several other times that Charlotte would direct the boat in one direction in order to keep pace with the current. At the same time, she wanted me to follow a slightly different line but did not communicate this thinking so my final path was a few ticks off optimal. For this relatively new swim, I hope my swim helped Charlotte and Dennis learn some new navigational tactics and how to communicate them when guiding future swimmers.
Miscellaneous Notes of the Trip Because we swam early in our window, we enjoyed several touring days in and around Copenhagen. When the first wave of us from America arrived on Friday morning, (Karen, Jordie, Nate, and me. Mark and Sam arrived by train on Saturday afternoon), we took a “Walk About” to stay awake after sleeping only 3 or 4 hours on the overnight flight. We took an Uber from the airport, although the Metro is also a good option, and were lucky to be able to check into our hotel early. After briefly unpacking, we took the Metro into central Copenhagen. This car-free area is pedestrian-friendly and heavily biked. We walked and walked, lunched in a funky bookstore-type restaurant across from the University of Copenhagen’s original library (worth a look at the interior, if you like libraries.) I took Mark and Sam to both these spots the following week; predictably, they loved it. Our Friday “Walk About” contingent ran across a Craft Fair but, due to superstitious reasons, I refrained from purchasing anything until after the swim. When I returned the following weekend to snap up the items I’d previously admired at the Craft Fair, a “Fluid Festival” occupied the same space, but not the type involving beverages. I politely declined their welcome invitations to join them. Eventually our Friday group passed the Royal Palace and headed south to Tivoli Gardens. We found Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard, the dividing line for cars and they sped past at breakneck speed. The well-marked crosswalks made all hundreds of us pedestrians safe in between the red and green lights and model the one of the firmly established Danish laws of “No Jaywalking.” Danes really take their rules and regulations seriously. The afternoon before we left, Mark, Sam and I went to Tivoli Gardens, not quite sure what to expect, then delighting in our glorious time at this old-style amusement park, upon which Disneyland was modeled. The day after our swims, our merry group ventured north on the commuter train to Helsingør (“EL-sin-or”) and celebrated with a magnificent Scandinavian dinner.
 Celebration in Helsinør! With Nick & Caroline Ellis Copenhagen is a clean, manageable city with good public transportation and an excellent outdoor mindset, at least in August. There is the usual abundance of interesting museums, palaces, great architecture, and parks to visit that you find in most major cities. The country’s goal is to be carbon-neutral by 2040 so Danes walk a lot, regularly ride bikes and keep their country tidy. We spent much of the trip looking for a Dane with over 10% Body Fat. Most Danes speak English, a good attribute since my comprehension of Danish closely aligns with my grasp of the Japanese language. We greatly enjoyed our trip there and would be happy to return. More Pictures of the Trip can be viewed here: XYZ Link coming Shortly. Where we stayed Hotel: Cabinn Apartments cabinn-apartments.worhot.com Arne Jacobsens Allé 4 2300 København S, Denmark The Cabinn Apartments, one block east of Fields Mall in southeastern Copenhagen, answered many of our needs. This spot is economical, utilitarian, and functional. The beds are comfortable and breakfast is included in the room rate if you request it. There are several common lounge spaces for groups to congregate on the lobby floor. In the basement, you’ll find Laundry facilities, both a large and small kitchen space, and a Rec Room. In-house Parking is available; make sure you pay for it at the front desk. Book Early and request a 3-to-4-person room. (The doubles are tiny.) Fields Mall had all the creature comforts we needed. A Bilka Grocery Store, similar to Walmart, containing almost everything you want. There are a few decent restaurants on the top level if you don’t want to wander far for food, and lots of upscale stores. We purchased dinner food from Bilka and ate in the lounge area of the hotel a few nights. With the Ironman Copenhagen happening the weekend after our swims, many spandex-clad skinny people toting bike helmets and water bottles filled the hotel to capacity. At least they went to bed early and cleaned up after themselves. The Orestad Metro Station is a 5+ minute walk from the Lobby, taking you to City Central in about 15 minutes. Trains come frequently around the clock. To ride the public transportation for all travel within Denmark, download and use the Rejsekort App. The icon looks like the Target store’s red bull’s eye icon but it's blue. If you haven’t paid your fare before boarding public transportation, you may be subjected to a fine of 750 Danish Kroner, so I'm told. (~US $115) ‘Reinhart’ took great delight telling us “schlumpy Americans” at 7am on a Saturday morning, “In Denmark, we use an honor system.”
Where we swam before the swim: Islands Brygge 14 svoemkbh.kk.dk/en/node/14 2300 København S Denmark. Copenhagen has an abundance of free swimming available, mostly in the Canals. “Pools” are sectioned off from the main areas of the Canal. Surprisingly, these public waterways are both clean and “safe”, or at least we didn’t see anyone doing anything stupid to get in the way of the ever-present boating traffic. Many residents swim year-round in the Canals – I can’t blame them! Kathleen suggested we swim at Islands Brygge, a 25-minute trip from the hotel, which includes the 10-minute walk to/from the Metro stop at “Islands Brygge.” Karen and I used our stroke rates to calculate that each lap in the obvious “pool” at Islands Brygge is about 95 meters. We swam only 30 minutes on both Saturday and Sunday in order to keep our feel for the water because Dennis indicated that our swims would probably happen early in our window.
For me, Sunday's swim was better than Saturday; I felt more comfortable in both the water and in myself on that second day. The 65F/17C water temperature felt fine and allowed plenty of room for each of us to move down a few degrees. There were some small jellies floating to the top: no big deal. We were able to swim tandem early in the mornings. Later in the day, Islands Brygge gets very crowded, making “lap” swimming a real challenge.
During these sessions, I was impressed with the way Karen was swimming: solid, strong and confident. On Sunday morning we met some Danes who took the video we made of our “Unification of the Waters.” Remarkably, we ran into them on the Metro the following Saturday after our swims. They were so happy to hear that we both made it! Another Danish couple told us the weather had been miserable the previous weekend; we got lucky and it was beautiful during our entire visit.
Karen and I swam laps without turns, touching the boards at each end when there wasn't debris making such a touch “too icky.” We did pickups, some straight sprints - in which Karen dusted me by body length -and finished with a “Karen IM Series.” (If you know, you know.) There are rinse-off showers poolside not as functional as the ones at Gilson, thus the need for real showers later in our hotel rooms. Several exercise classes were taking place in the park adjacent to the pool. We also had fun watching “Kayak Polo” in the Canal. Three-on-three teams with each player in a single, open-top kayak, spread out over a course marked in the Canal. They pass the ball between themselves with their paddles and a player can score a goal by shooting the ball into a basketball-style net with their hands. However, they can only hold the ball for three seconds, or less. There are lots of tip-overs, laughing, and entertaining moments. Afterwards, the celebratory adult beverages flow freely but Karen and I didn’t stick around for that part. These types of activities are just a few of how the Danish use so much of their available area to recreate and move.
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