Sport Experiences. Unhinged.
Torpedo SwimRun has been hosting the southern hemisphere's most wildlycool multisport experiences since 2017. We didn't invent SwimRun — but we brought it to South Africa's most beautiful locations and made it accessible to everyone.
From A Drunken Bet To The Southern Hemisphere
It started with a friend.
Nick Havemann — a school friend from Durban in the 1980s, and later a fellow paddler — came back from a trip to Ötillö with a story about a sport that barely existed yet. Swimmers and runners moving through open water and wild terrain, you and your partner against whatever the environment threw at you. Nick sadly passed away in 2019, not yet 40. But the spark he brought back from Sweden lit something that's burned for almost a decade across South Africa.
The First African Experiment
In 2017, over 100 athletes waded into the freezing Atlantic in Cape Town. Nobody quite knew if it would work. It did.
What followed was ten years of joyful, experimental, volunteer-fuelled passion — and that's meant with deep respect. Driven by athletes, sustained by the goodwill of countless people working quietly behind the scenes to keep something slightly wacky, and very real, alive. Rob Wright gave it an identity. His love of brands shaped what Torpedo became — a visual world as impressive as its terrain.
The Places
Cape Town's Atlantic seaboard. Val de Vie Estate in the Winelands. Torpedo Wild on the Garden Route Wilderness coast. The V&A Waterfront. Torpedo Moon at Cradle Moon in Gauteng. Multiple provinces. Varying grades of races, including kids. Warm water and cold. Vineyards and wilderness. One constant: people doing something most of their friends think is mildly insane.
Inspiration And Gratitude
In 2024, I travelled with Michael Lemmel on his boat across the Stockholm archipelago to Sandhamn — and visited the hotel where the drunken 2002 bet gave birth to the sport. On the same trip we completed the Rockman in Norway — an OG race. It was all to experience the real origin and soul behind the sport.
We came home with more fire than we left with.
Over the years there has been much support, and gratitude must go to FACES — the team building the Cape Town Marathon — who believed in us in the early days. Our current partners, Venturen and Eventure, have stood alongside from the beginning, built on long-term trust and real friendship. Angie Austin has recently joined, bringing the same energy for the next leg of our journey.
As we close in on ten years of the experiment — 2017 to 2026 — we're closing in on our start line. Our vision has been shaped by every Thursday morning run and cold dip friend who's joined us, every volunteer, every athlete who has supported our races — they have all brought us to this start line and we hope the future of Torpedo will make everyone proud.
What a journey it's been. Thank you.
— Richard McMartin
What We Stand For
Adventure First
We prioritize genuine outdoor experience over comfort. Cold water. Technical terrain. Earned achievement. That's what makes it real.
Inclusive
Four grades. Multiple distances. Kids races. We're for experienced athletes AND beginners. Everyone deserves access to nature.
Safety. No Compromise.
We prioritise safety above all else. We partner with the best water safety teams around, with a focus on local experience, to ensure we maintain our 100% safety track record.
Community Driven
This is about people. The athletes. The volunteers. The local guides. The shared experience on the water and trail.
Authenticity
We don't fake credentials or pretend expertise we don't have. We speak honestly, partner genuinely, and admit when we're wrong.
Athlete Knowledge
Our aim is to empower the athlete. They know where their limit is. Our safety team provides the guard rails. Athletes are required to know their bodies and their limits. Never start a swim you're not 100% certain about. Know your limits — that's a real athlete.