In this episode
Petros Parthenis discusses years in triathlon, cycling and running, and moving from competitor to behind the scenes: race announcing, mentoring without calling himself a coach, and sea-swimming gatherings.
At the centre is We Swim Greece: Sundays at Akti Vouliagmenis, uninterrupted winter contact with the water, tow floats and a lifeguard. The community rests on consistency, togetherness and safe open-water participation.
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Detailed show notes
An athlete who moved behind the scenes
He grew up in Thebes. He says he entered sport young to move beyond weight and provincial life, started triathlon in 1997 and raced first in 1998. He places the end of his racing period around 2017. He describes himself as a lifelong long-distance athlete, mainly halves, with marathons and marathon swims, without repeating the introduction’s 26/11 figures. He recalls an Ironman in Frankfurt completed on the same day without an official entry.
He worked in bars, wrote about cycling and running and travelled to the Belgian and French classics. He is not a coach; he offers advice and refers people to younger professionals who serve triathlon.
We Swim as an open community
After the financial crisis, he grew tired of swimming alone in the pool. Things became more organised in 2015, with a name in 2016: caps, an invitation to the beach and an initial 7–10 people. He now describes 200–400 every Sunday after 11 at Akti Vouliagmenis, free of charge. He does not call it a club: it is a sole proprietorship selling products such as tow floats and ponchos, with a marked route. He brings a lifeguard. Winter Sundays continue until late April, followed by after-work evening swims closer to 1,200 m.
Cold water and being together
He does not provide temperatures as current news in the episode, referring listeners to YouTube. For Greece, he describes winter seas near 17–19 degrees until mid-January, then towards 15. Regular exposure without long breaks changes how February feels. Personally, he describes ten-kilometre swims without a wetsuit down to 15 degrees as his own experiment, not a prescription. He also sees winter swimming as mental resilience. He gives listeners the social names Petros Parthenis and We Swim, without a URL in the package.
Races and a voice
He announces races and recalls Roth, Belgium and earlier Greek conditions before organised transitions. He invites triathletes to swim in the sea before racing. He closes by mentioning announcing a triathlon in Alexandroupoli as a possibility, not a confirmed booking.
Key takeaways
- Open water becomes a training environment with company, markings and someone watching the route, rather than being alone.
- We Swim operates as an open swimming community rather than a sports club.
- Cold-water exposure develops gradually; the guest’s personal experiments are not instructions.
- Petros distinguishes advice from coaching and does not introduce himself as a coach.
