Mudskipper Canadian Swimrun Pioneer

For Canadian swimrunners, Mudskipper events and their founder, Ian Feldmen are household names. Feldman, 62, was a masters swim coach who says he “fell into” the swimrun scene.

After doing his first open water race, Feldman started an open-water swimming Facebook group. Shortly after, someone contacted him for help putting on a local race, calling him the “guru of open-water swimming.”

“One race became two,” Feldman recalls. “It started off totally as a hobby.”

As someone who says the bike portion of a triathlon always killed him, Feldman, who now resides in Toronto, had been looking for years for a sport that involved swimming and running. “When I heard about this, I jumped on it,” he says.

Feldman’s first event in Sudbury, Ont., in 2019 drew 30 people. On the heels of a few rough COVID years, he came back in 2021 with two races. By 2022, Mudskipper was running a full schedule.

This year, Feldman’s company will host 12 events across Canada and two in the U.S. Mudskipper’s roster of events makes it by far the largest swimrun event producer in Canada, and one of the largest in the world.

Feldman believes swimrun is one of the fastest-growing endurance sports in the world. He says that last year, Mudskipper doubled their numbers for the previous year, and that as of our interview in April, this year they’ve already met last year’s totals.

“In some areas of Europe it’s bigger than triathlon,” he adds.

Feldman says part of swimrun’s appeal is that you can get into it for less than $1,000. Without the high cost of a bike, all you need is some swim gear and good pair of mesh trail runners—his secret weapon for water drainage.

As for Ötillö Swimrun coming to his territory? “They are in a lot of ways the Ironman of swimrun,” Feldman says. “I think it’s great for the sport.”

For those interested in competing on the world stage in individual swimrun, this year Mudskipper putting on three qualifying races for the Aquaticrunner World Individual SwimRun Championships in Grado, Italy, in 2025. Athletes can vie for one of 12 slots at the St. Donat SwimRun Challenge on July 28 in Quebec, the Mudskipper Canadian Individual SwimRun Championships on Aug. 18 in Parry Sound and the Sasamat Mudskipper SwimRun Challenge on Sept. 22.

“Over the years we’ve left our mark,” Feldman states proudly in an email to participants. “The best part is that we have sent 14 Canadians to the world event.”

Because of Mudskipper, Canada will be well represented not only nationally, but on swimrun’s world stage.