ARK, a world-leading swimrun brand, always aims for the top and strives to create the best possible equipment for athletes in the sport. Unlike their competitors, ARK focuses exclusively on swimrun and has developed the fastest swimrun equipment in the world. In their pursuit of the best solution, they discovered TeXtreme® spread tow thin ply carbon fabrics, which proved to be a perfect match for their swimrun paddles.
About swimrun
Swimrun is a sport where participants alternate between running and swimming without any stops. They wear swimrun-specific wetsuits, specially designed shoes for lightweight and good grip when wet, as well as paddles and a buoy. The sport originated in 2002 as a bet among four friends to see who could first complete the route from Utö to Sandhamn in the Stockholm Archipelago, covering a distance of 75 km. The last team to finish would pay for the hotel, dinner, and drinks. Since then, the sport has evolved and is now a rapidly growing activity in several parts of the world. The first official swimrun race was organized in 2006. The race between Utö and Sandhamn is still considered the world championship.
ARK Carbon blades x TeXtreme®
While bringing equipment throughout the course, which can exceed 75 km long, it is crucial for the equipment to be as light as possible. Other than weight savings, performance is key. The optimal swimrun padel should be stiff, strong, and as light as possible which makes TeXtreme® thin ply spread tow an optimal choice for the perfect swimrun paddle. The TeXtreme® technology, with its spread tows and thin plies, produces an extremely thin fabric with minimal crimp. This results in exceptional stiffness and strength while maintaining a lightweight design.
ARK Carbon blades are a millimeter-thick carbon fiber hand paddles. They enter the water surface with minimal friction and provide a direct kickback during the catch while swimming. In addition, they are exceptionally lightweight. Each pair of ARK Carbon Blades are handmade in Sweden and you can have a closer look at them over at https://www.arksports.com/.
