Courtesy of WOWSA, Torne River, Finland-Sweden.

The 3 km Swim The Arctic Circle event is a cross-border midnight swim from Juoksenki, Finland to Juoksengi, Sweden in Torne River.

Held in July, the mass start of the 2000m race starts in Sweden on a beach north of the Arctic Circle and finishes south of the Arctic Circle as the swimmers cross the border of Finland en route. The start and finish at the Swedish shore.

Uniquely, the 3000m race starts at midnight in the Torne River as a night swim in the bright Nordic summer night. It starts on the Finish shore right after midnight Finnish time, crosses the Finnish-Swedish border and the Arctic Circle and the local time zone. Swimmers who swam the distance in less than 55 minutes reached the finish before the day the competition began.

Former Swedish Olympic backstroker (2000 Sydney Olympics) Camilla Johansson-Sponseller won both the 2 km and 3 km races while Adrian Bengtson finished second in the 2 km to Elias Kuusisto and won the 3 km race.

Women’s 2000m Freestyle Top 25 Results:
1. Camilla Johansson-Sponseller, Sweden 24:54
2. Astrid Gustafsson, Sweden 25:12
3. Di Heelas, United Kingdom 27:40
4. Carina Helin, Sweden 27:56
5. Ingrid Lindelöw Berntsson, Sweden 28:14
6. Kristin Larsson, Sweden 28:26
7. Cerian Mellor, United Kingdom 28:28
8. Nerys Pearce, United Kingdom 28:35
9. Mervi Hillukkala, Finland 28:41
10. Tina Deeken, Germany 28:42
11. Josephine Hedblom, Sweden 29:38
12. Ellen Dyverfeldt, Sweden 29:55
13. Sofia Saukko, Finland 30:00
14. Daria Likhovich, Sweden 30:36
15. Deborah Banks, United Kingdom 30:49
16. Bianca Kempster, United Kingdom 31:20
17. Hayley Butlin, United Kingdom 31:32
18. Judith Bradford Knox, United Kingdom 31:35
19. Ann Chivers, United Kingdom 31:35
20. Anne Kenttä, Finland 31:50
21. Natalia Bakhtina, Russia 32:01
22. Zanna Clarke, United Kingdom 32:02
23. Beth Jackson, United Kingdom 32:06
24. Maja Sourdaine, Ireland 32:07
25. Amanda Nordmark, Sweden 32:14

Men’s 2000m Freestyle Top 25 Results:
1. Elias Kuusisto, Finland 23:18
2. Adrian Bengtson, Sweden 23:29
3. Kieren Jon Lawrenson, Australia 23:57
4. Samuli Keisu, Finland 25:22
5. Daniel Hansson, Sweden 26:23
6. Steven Boyle, United Kingdom 26:31
7. Henrik Eyvind Bang Larsen, Sweden 27:23
8. Timo Siika-aho, Finland 29:22
9. Frank Hegger, Germany 30:09
10. Malcolm Burfitt, United Kingdom 30:10
11. Russell Wilfred, Finland 30:11
12. Vesa Keränen, Finland 30:20
13. Toby Cullen, United Kingdom 32:51
14. Fredric Hemphälä, Sweden 33:06
15. Jose Garcia-Rosell, Finland 33:08
16. Andrew Ainge, United Kingdom 33:19
17. Niall Tully, Ireland 33:29
18. Sven Rönbäck, Sweden 33:50
19. Aleksadr Garmatin, Russia 34:26
20. Olof Norberg, Sweden 34:48
21. Julian Ward, United Kingdom 34:48
22. Philip Warren, United Kingdom 35:46
23. Ville Tuominen, Finland 35:56
24. Neil Kolbert, United Kingdom 36:06
25. Mark Reed, United Kingdom 36:18

Women’s 3000m Freestyle Top 25 Results:
1. Camilla Johansson-Sponseller, Sweden 31:59
2. Astrid Gustafsson, Sweden 32:05
3. Sanna Maasilta, Finland 33:09
4. Ingrid Lindelöw Berntsson, Sweden 34:38
5. Liudmila Popova, Russia 35:54
6. Nerys Pearce, United Kingdom 36:09
7. Di Heelas, United Kingdom 36:09
8. Cerian Mellor, United Kingdom 36:10
9. Mervi Hillukkala, Finland 36:14
10. Tina Deeken, Germany 36:33
11. Carina Helin, Sweden 36:38
12. Daria Likhovich, Russia 37:18
13. Zanna Clarke, United Kingdom 37:27
14. Nadezhda Kulikova, Russia 37:29
15. Rachael Hanrahan, United Kingdom 37:59
16. Louise Naylor, United Kingdom 38:26
17. Dawn Linford, United Kingdom 38:39
18. Eve Keskinen, Finland 38:48
19. Judith Bradford-Knox, United Kingdom 38:58
20. Samantha Chyriwsky, United Kingdom 39:30
21. Erinn Campbell, Australia 39:52
22. Beth Jackson, United Kingdom 40:01
23. Laura Hulse, United Kingdom 40:22
24. Natalia Bakhtina, Russia 40:26
25. Morven Bridges, United Kingdom 40:40

Men’s 3000m Freestyle Top 25 Results:
1. Adrian Bengtson, Sweden 29:32
2. Kieren Jon Lawrenson, Australia 31:00
3. Samuli Keisu, Finland 32:01
4. Alan Coley-Smith, United Kingdom 33:21
5. Henrik Eyvind Bang Larsen, Sweden 34:39
6. Russell Wilfred, Finland 35:01
7. Martin Hunt, United Kingdom 37:01
8. Frank Hegger, Germany 37:56
9. Andrew Ternent, United Kingdom 38:01
10. Johnny Widén, Sweden 38:23
11. Malcolm Burfitt, United Kingdom 38:33
12. Kerry McFall, United Kingdom 38:38
13. Michael Davidson, United Kingdom 38:47
14. Neil Kolbert, United Kingdom 39:09
15. Dmitriy Loktev, Sweden 39:22
16. Marko Kahelin, Finland 40:35
17. Steven Gibson, United Kingdom 40:40
18. Fredric Hemphälä, Sweden 40:46
19. Aleksadr Garmatin, Sweden 41:08
20. Anton Shatrov, Sweden 41:11
21. Toby Cullen, United Kingdom 41:20
22. Andrew Ainge, United Kingdom 41:58
23. Gareth Davison, United Kingdom 42:24
24. Maciej Kadlubowski, Poland 42:54
25. Julian Ward, United Kingdom 43:14

For more information and to register for the July 13th 2019 event, visit here.

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