Swimrun Côte d’Azur: ten years of swimming and running between Beaulieu and Cap Ferrat
Translated from French. The tenth edition of the Swimrun Côte d’Azur takes place this Sunday 18 October at Beaulieu-sur-Mer, around Cap Ferrat. Close to a thousand entrants will alternate sea swimming and running over three distances, solo or in pairs, without ever changing kit.
Translated from the French original. Lire en français
They will dive into the sea with their shoes on, climb out to run in their wetsuits, then dive back in a few hundred metres further on. The Swimrun Côte d’Azur celebrates its tenth edition this Sunday 18 October at Beaulieu-sur-Mer, around Cap Ferrat. The international MySwimRun circuit announced 980 entries before the weekend, while Beaulieu town hall expects more than a thousand runners: either way, the community race born in 2016 has changed scale.
Swimrun, a discipline born in Sweden, means alternating running and open water swimming without changing kit: shoes go into the water, wetsuits climb the paths, and the effort starts again at every transition. Between Beaulieu and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the terrain sets the rhythm, among narrow paths, pines and rocks; where a conventional race would have to go around a cove, competitors can swim straight across it.
Three distances, from Beaulieu port to Villefranche
The official 2026 rules offer three formats, starting and finishing at the port of Beaulieu-sur-Mer and crossing the communes of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Villefranche-sur-Mer: 30 km in total, with 25 km of running and 5 km of swimming; 17 km, with 13.7 km of running and 3.4 km of swimming; and 8 km, with 6 km of running and 2 km of swimming. The races can be contested solo or in teams of two, men’s, women’s or mixed. Starts are scheduled from the Plage de la Petite Afrique beach: at 8 am for the 30 km, 8.45 am for the 17 km and 9.30 am for the 8 km, with the race village set up at Beaulieu port.
In pairs, running fast is not enough: partners must stay within 10 metres of each other in the water and within 50 metres on land, and an elastic tether can link them. The faster one sometimes has to slow down and wait for the other: in this discipline, coordination counts as much as endurance.
From a community race to a world final
Organised by the Beaulieu Endurance association since 2016, according to La Clé Publique, the event drew more than 700 athletes in 2024 and more than 800 in 2025, according to the commune. Last year, again according to La Clé Publique, Beaulieu hosted the world final of the marathon distance on the MySwimRun circuit; for this anniversary edition, the race returns to qualifying status in that international championship.
On the swim sections, safety cover rests in particular on surveillance at sea. In early October, the town launched an appeal for volunteers, with the option of joining that maritime safety cover by kayak. For spectators, the show is at the transitions, when competitors leave the water and take to the paths again without stopping, shoes still soaked.
