Swim Statistics

Today I did something that I know you're not supposed to do and everyone will think you're so full of yourself if you do; I Googled my own name... Gasp! However, I actually found out some good information I didn't know before, and it's the answers to a few questions that different people have been asking me and I couldn't honestly answer.

Qusetion 1: "How many people have swum the Channel?" Answer: To date there have been 1,499 succesful SOLO crossings of the English Channel, by 1,081 people. I don't have a figure for the total of succesful realy crossings, yet. Niall O'Crualaioch from Cork completed the 1,000th crossing. Ther have been 6 deaths on Channel swims.

Question 2: This is one that some of the younger members of Fermoy Swimming Club have been asking; "Were you one of the fastest to do it?" Answer: I swam it in a time of 10hrs 19mins. The record is 6hrs 57mins held by Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria. Many wsims take well over 24hrs. I have the 203rd fastest time, along with one other. That puts me in the top 13.5% in terms of speed. I also have the fastest time of anyone from the Republic of Ireland. This year threr were 75 succesful solo crossings and mine was the 5th fastest, that in the top 7%.

Question 3: "Are you the youngest person to have done it?" Answer: The straight answer is "No". However, since we started we had suspected that I would be the youngest Irish person, and I can now confirm that that is correct. In the past people under the age of 16 were allowed to swim but that has since been stopped as a child protection issue. So now you must be at least 16 to attempt the swim.

Question 4: This is another one kids often ask me, I suspect adults are too embarassed to ask; "How do you go to the toilet?" Answer: Any suggestions for an appropriate answer?

All of this and loads more, including photos can be found on www.dover.uk.com/channelswimming. This is an excellent source for all sorts of information about past Channel swims. Don't forget taht you can still sponsor me online at www.mycharity.ie/event/ec4cancer. So far we have over €13,000. That is a great result, but can we make it €15,000? Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me so far..!

Channel Swim 21st September 2009

My apoligies again about the long delay with writing about the swim, everything has just been so hectic with school and all the rest! So that I don't start rambling and you end up reading a load of rubbish, I'm going to write the whole thing in five clear paragraphs; the lead up, the start of the swim, the middle, the end, and the afters! By the way, there won't be very many pictures on this post, so if you would like to see more click here.

We arrived in Dover all excited on Wednesday 9th September, thinking that it wouldn't be very long before the swim. However, day by day, the swim kept getting put off. Our original plan was to head home the following Wednesday, but by then there was still no sign of a swim so we had to start making plans for an extended stay. As you can imagine, the whole experience was very demoralising! It was very windy all week, which prevented any swims, but otherwise the weather was very nice. It wasn't until the following Friday that things were starting to look better. On Saturday 19th, we cheered Lisa off on her 2-way swim. The weather looked like it was still improving, so now all I had to do was wait for Lisa to finish (as we were both booked with the same pilot) and then it would be my turn. Really, that was all I had to do, and just hope that the weather held out...

Sunday evening, Lisa was on her way back to England, still going strong. The forecast for the following morning was excellent, if Lisa got back in time I would go at midnight and hit everything perfectly. It was a very tense few hours in the caravan park, and I definitely did not get the rest I should have. At 10:10pm Lisa finished her amazing swim at Dungeness. I got a call from Lance, our pilot, to be at the marina at 12:30pm to turn around as soon as possible to hit the tide. We met Lisa arriving back at the harbour and off we went at 1am. The journey out to the start on the boat was tough. I was never so nervous before. At 1:41am I entered the water at Samphire Hoe. It was a spring tide and I had missed the start so it was going to be very hard to hit the tide turning at the right time. The water felt warm, after about a half an hour I started to get into my rythm, and conditions were excellent. After 1hr, the crew gave me my first feed and my own Channel Swim was well under way.

As the swim progressed, everything looked perfect, the surface was flat calm, I was swimming well, feeling good, and the feeds were going down quickly and staying down. After about 4hrs it was just getting light when we were all brought to our senses by the loudest thing I've ever heard. An oil tanker was steaming down the South-West Shipping Lane right towards us giving loud blasts on its horn. Lance radioed it to change course, they said no, Lance called the Dover Coastguard and blew the whistle, the taker, still blasting the horn, went into reverse and began rotating anti-clockwise and coming towards us sideways. When it had turned enough it went into gear and passed between 100m and 150m infront of us. That was a very scary experience, luckily we survived only to be thrown all over the place by the turbulence caused. It turned out afterwards that the Coastguard had requested it to reduce speed further up the North Sea so that it would pass behind us, but it didn't want to hear it. Over the course of the next hour the Sun was rising and everyone's spirits wer lifted. When we were in full daylight I had a slightly extended feed stop to change over to dark goggles and fix all my gear. Now the we could see real progress being made.

At the 8hr mark Ned told me that if I picked up the pace I could make France in less than two hours, and then he kept repeating the words "sub-10hrs, I know you've been dreamin' about it, sub-10"... About a half an hour later during a feed, he told me that there was a buoy infront of us and that if we were able to get inside it as the tide pushed us West, then I could hit Cap-Gris-Nez, the ideal finish for Channel Swims. I kept sprinting, and believe me I was sprinting and we got inside the buoy. I needed to keep up the pace that I had been doing in order to make the Cap. With 3km to go the tide was slack and it looked like it was going to stay like that for an hour so I would have an easy swim into shore. That of course, wasn't to be! 30mins later the tide started to push me North and I had to really dig deep if I was going to make it. I kept swimming faster and faster, not realisinb the power of the tidal stream. Then Lance said something to me at the last feed, "You've got 800m to go but the tide is pushing you North past the Cap, anything you've got left in your tank, now'd be a good time to use it!" With that I sprinted like hell, right across a 2.5knot current and hit France at exactly 12noon after 10hrs 19mins in the water, 2hrs 40mins of which was at full pace! i eventually clambered over the rocks and cleared the water. Ned then got in and swam in to meet me and ended up 50m North after less than 50m swimming. It was impossible to believe that I was really there. The feeling can only be described as surreal...

After enjoying the view in France and picking up my stone, I swam back to the boat and climbed up the ladder onto the deck. What an amazing feeling! After more than ten and a half hours I was back on the boat with the people who kept the whole show running since 11:30pm the night before... We [sort of] "motored" back to England. I say motored, it took nearly 4hrs! Everyone was falling asleep on the way back. We were all completely exhausted. Everything was such a rush when we arrived back. We met Dad, David (from the caravan park), Sylvain and Dan at the marina. Said our goodbyes to Lance, Chris and Irene and went back up to the caravan park where the French and Irish tri-colours were flying side-by-side. I had a quick shower and then we headed down to the Royal Oak, our local pub for the two weeks, and we attempted to eat solid foods. You'll just have to trust me that your mouth is not suited to anything more than a banana after a Channel swim!

We hardly got a night's sleep because we had to leave for home at 6am the next morning. Just passed London I was woken up to make my first radio interiew after swimming the Channel. It was KC and Lennie from Cork's RedFM. Luckily my wit was sharp enough for them I think... It's a sort of a comedy breakfast show! On the ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, I was able to catch up on all my e-mails. Arriving back into Ireland was another great feeling... Only a few days before I thought I would be returning empty handed. I was in for the shock of my life as we pulled into our driveway at home. There wer lots of banners and balloons up around the place and All of my familly, including my Grandad, aunt and lots of cousins, were all there, plus a freelance photographer who took loads of lovely pictures which can be seen at http://www.provision.ie/ for 22nd Sept. Then we wer rushed down to the Grand Hotel in Fermoy. I knew something was up when we were told to go through the main entrance. When we went in there were loads of friends and familly, swiimming club and school friends all cheering and clapping... We had a really great night.

That's it for the moment but this account is to be continued as that was by no means the end of the celebrations! Keep an eye out...

10hrs 19mins later........

At last, it's done, on Monday 21st September 2009 at 1:41am, I left England in the dark of night, and at exactly 12noon, I clambered up the rocks at Cap-Gris-Nez, France. It's slowly but surely sinking in the I actually swam the English Channel! Oops...... sorry Sylvain, la Manche! It was a very tough two weeks at Varne Ridge, waiting to hera that the weather was improving, but it was worth every second in the end!

I'm sorry I can't write anything at the moment but by next week I will have the full stroy up for everyone to read!

IT'S SHOW TIME...............

Finally there is a break in the weather. Lisa from Blackrock started her 2-way at 10:35am yesterday and is now well over half way back to England. Sylvain from Alsace/Cork started his swim at around 11am today and I am scheduled to go TONIGHT at around midnight. We are now 99.9% sure that this is it, for real!

There are plenty of ways of keeping up with the swim. You can call (or text) the boat on +353 87 2278242, this is my number but Dave will answer. You can keep an eye on my Twitter page www.twitter.com/owensbigswim where there will be very regular updates. By going to www.ais-doverstraits.co.uk and clicking on Sea Satin, you can track the boats progress across the Channel. It's amazing the technology involved in Channel swimming now... You can leave comments on facebook, twitter or by text if you want.

Don't forget that all this is in aid of the Irish Cancer Society and you can sponsor me at www.mycharity.ie/event/ec4cancer Thank You...!

The story so far...

Just a very brief update to get you up to speed with the latest developments.

I am now sitting in Varne Ridge Holiday Park (which I would very highly recommend) waiting for this wind to die down. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and there was a stiff North Easterly wind blowing which was making the sea rough with lots of white horses. Its is still the same today and will be until at least Thursday.

Wednesday is the last official day of my tides but I will retain my 2nd Preference booking with the pilot until the 23rd when the next tides begin. This gives me a better chance of swimming but it means I could be swimming on a spring tide which makes the swim more difficult, but at least I can get in the water at some stage.

That's really all I can say for now. Keep an eye on the Twitter page www.twitter.com/owensbigswim for more frequent updates. Also, don't forget to keep those donations rolling in!

More later,
Owen.

It's finally September!

Hi Everyone,

I'd like to start off by just saying thanks to all the great people who have helped me reach this point. Most of all, Riordan's SuperValu Fermoy, who were very generous in their sponsorship of this swim... And also, Fermoy Leisure Centre who kept me going through the winter, Fermoy Swimming Club who I just can't thank enough for the last 10yrs, Dave Pyne for all the help with physio all this year, and Cara Partners, my Dad's employers, who were also very generous in supporting the event. And of course all the individuals who donated towrds the Irish Cancer Society so far! You can still donate here: www.mycharity.ie/event/ec4cancer So far we have raised over €5,500 I would love to make it €7,500 before I walk on French soil, so lets keep donating and I know we'll get there...!

The last week has been so different from the entire year I have put behind me. On Monday, I started to taper so doing very little swimming. On Tuesday I went to SiverSprings to remind myself of some of the 20km+ Sessions I did there and to meet with Eilís Burns, Channel Coach Supreme... Wednesday was the dreaded "back to school", into 5th Yr, the beginning of the Leaving Cert. course, and it was a big shock to the system! At least it gives me something to take my mind off waiting while I'm in Dover. Thursday morning was back to Club Trainig with Fermoy SC, I have to say I had been looking forward to this all summer! Today was up to the City to get all the stuff for Dover, and to treat myself to a few things. Tomorrow is the send-off swim and barbeque at Sandycove for myself, Lisa Cummins and Sylvain Estadieu, all heading to Dover so that should be good fun...

I will post when I arrive in Dover and the day before the swim to let everyone know that I'm off. You can follow the swim online. There should be somebody doing hourly updates and Twitter here: www.twitter.com/owensbigswim and you can also see the boats progress by satellite on www.ais-doverstraits.co.uk, I think it will most likely be Sea Satin but will confirm later. Hopefully these will be kept up to date on the day of the swim...

Expect a new post as soon as we arrive in Dover on Wednesday evening,
Owen.

PS - There should also be a post very soon about the Blackwater Sprint Triathlon which took place last weekend...

Almost there........

I can't believe that it's so close now. There is less than four weeks to the start of my tides! Since 1st January this year I have swam 940km, and will begin to taper in the next two weeks when I reach the 1,000km mark; that's One Million Metres... I am starting to cut down now to only doing one or two hour swims up in the resevoir. At this stage I am really itching to swim!

So far I have raised almost €4,000 for the Irsh Cancer Society. Please help me hit the €5,000 mark before we leave for England. You can donate online at www.mycharity.ie/event/ec4cancer or if you're living around Fermoy, call into The Bookshop in Pearse Square where they have a sponsorship card instore.

This year has been a great year for Channel swimming in Cork. So far six locals have made it and there are four more to go. This ties with 2005 which was the record year for successes from Cork. Also, out of the Distance Camp back in June, eight out of eight have made it so far, and there are more to come. I think all of us who are left to go are feeling the pressure not to break the 100% success rate so far this year.

That's it for the moment... I will do another post around the end of the month.

Irish 17km Championships 2009

This was my first year taking part in the Irish 17km Championships, held in Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh. Yes, Co. Fermanagh is over the border in Northern Ireland but swimming in Ireland is an "all island" afair so both the Republic and the North are included in Championships. The swim was run by Martin Cullen of The Irish Long Distance Swimming Association (ILDSA).

This was also my first proper swim after a two week holiday and a total journey of more than 10hrs to get to the start line! So, I really wasn'e expecting to do particularly well. The water was on ok temperature. It wasn't very comfortable but it could have been alot colder... I finished the swim in 4:10:36. I was hoping to do it in under 4hrs but that wasn't too bad for my first time doing it. I finished in third place overall. The winner was Lisa Broadfield of the USA and second was Simon Lee of Great Britain. Even though it was the Irish Championships, they gave the trophy to the English guy. He had been winning the event for the last 10yrs but they always awarded the trophy to the Irish Champion... It would have to be the one year that they decide to change it!

I did enjoy the event though. It felt very long and was very boring.....exactly as a swim should be. Maybe next year I will go back and do it slightly better! Sorry about the lack of pictures... My Dad wasn't there! Unfortunately I can't seem to get eny so we'll just have to imagine it.....

Lee Swim 18th July 2009

This year proved to be another fantastic Lee Swim. The swim was first held in 1914 but was later relocated and eventually suspended due to the bad water quality in Cork City and the outer Harbour. It was resurected in 2005 when Cork celebrated it's year as the European Capital of Culture. Everybody was amazed at the great improvement in water quality since the City's new drainage system was put in place and now the swim has become the largest open-water event in the country, with people travelling from all over the world to participate. This year a record number of 279 people took part.

I first did the swim in 2006. It was my first big open-water event and I was only 13 years old. Myself and my friend Bryan Dillon had spent the first half of the summer training for this swim which we thought was very long and was going to be really scary. That year we placed reasonably well and got hooked on open-water swimming, doing the Sandycove Island Challenge that September. In 2007 I was taking swimming fairly seriously and set myself the challenge of beating Ned in the Lee. I did beat him then but lost out on the Island Challenge that year. That September Ned and Danny Coholan (EC Soloist) took me on my first Speckled Door to Sandycove 5km swim. Being the youngest to ever do it it got alot of attention and gave me great confidence. Within a month I had booked my English Channel Swim.

In 2008 I was determined to do as well as I could. I beat Ned in the Lee and finished 4th overall. I also did the Lizard Point swim, Loch Allua, Crosshaven to Blackrock and Blackorock to Cóbh in that year and came second in the Island Challenge. Oops, I started rambling... Let's get back to the Lee Swim!

This year was another fantastic Lee Swim, even if it was rainig for most of the day! After a bit of a slow start, I surprised myself and managed to climb back up to finish in second place. I never would have thought in 2006 that I would be coming 2nd in the Lee Swim. I finished in 23mins 17secs which I was absolutely delighted with, I was thinking that 25mins would have been very good. As usual everybody really enjoyed the day. There was a great surprise afterwards when there was a real game of proper water-polo played in the River infront of the Clarion Hotel. At least this kept us some way occupied while the results were being done manually due to a technical fault with the electronic timing!


Joe Donnelly has to be crongratulated for his excellent work for resurecting this swim and making it such a great success every year. It is not easy running an event like this with so many participants and spectators! Thanks Joe........!!! Also, well done to the overall winner, Shane Drumm of Aer Lingus SC and the winner of the women's race Maeve Linahen fo Mallow Swans SC, also well done to Harry Cohen, 12yo, who travelled from London and was the youngest participant in the swim.

I really can't wait for next year's Lee Swim!

Last weekend's races......mixed results!

Last weekend we had our first ever event in Co. Waterford. It was a 2.2km swim in Baile na nGall which is in Gaeltacht na Rinne. The swim was organised by Maura Murphy and there were about 20 swimmers in attendence. I finished first in just over a half an hour and Chris Mintern from Sunday's Well wasn't far behind in second. Ned Denison was a bit later in third place, he was helped from the water by Chris and I... How embarassing!!! He proclaimed to be the real winner as he was the first "driver" home. Things are realing getting bad when you have to use your age as an excuse! This was a great first swim in Waterford and thanks to Maura for organising it.


On Saturday we had Nick Mulcahy's annual swim in Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry. Due to the bad weather we couldn't do the usual swim so we had to do a shorter course just around the beach. It was a very fun and exciting event. I would like to thank Ned for knocking my goggles off in a battle less than 100m from the finish! Due to me having no goggles I went way off course and finished further back in the race. The swim was really great fun and I had a great day on Sunday surk-kayaking off the beach. Thanks as usual to Nick for another great event.

Cork City to Myrtleville

My longest swim in terms of distance to date... 26km or just over 16miles. Although this was my longest swim distance-wise, it was only my second longest in terms of time-in-the-water... 5hrs 47mins.

Ned and I started ours swim in the pitch dark at 4:09am underneath the Port of Cork sign in Cork City Centre. This was my first ever night swim and I have to say I found it very relaxing... Apart from a few bits of floatsome and jetsome, which is to be expected in the River Lee. For safety we had all our light-sticks on and the boat had their navigation lights on. On the boat was Dave Mulcahy and Kieran O'Sullivan, both did a fantastic job at keeping us on course in the difficult conditions.

As we swam past Blackrock Castle it was starting to get bright... It also however started to get a bit choppy and started to lash rain on Dave and Kieran on the boat. The water was warm and I was feeling very comfortable so actually felt sorry for the boat crew getting drenched, I'm not really sure how Ned was feeling. After a few feeds we had passed Glenbrook and Ned said that he was getting out at Monkstown... There was no arguing and he exited the water at 2hrs 54mins and then crewed for the rest of the swim.

Passing infront of Hawlbowline Island, the Irish Naval HQ, and Spike Island, former prison, it started lashing rain again. After that it got a bit calmer and a fog rolled in. On our way from Cóbh to the Mouth of the Harbour, we ran into some trouble with the Port Authorities which we won't mention. Apparently all of our names went on to some report! It wasn't really our fault though......out-dated technology.

The water was still warm as we exited Cork Harbour. Now instead of a choppy surface, I had a large rolling swell to contend with. Aside from sore shoulders from fighting the waves for the last 5hrs and one jellyfish sting, I was feeling very confident and upped the pace a bit because I knew the end wasn't too far away. For a while I kept looking up for some reason but Ned stepped in and corrected that!

After the boat ran out of orange flavoured High5 to give me they gave me an unflavoured one and mixed it with blackcurrant juice... It wasn't too bad. After that Ned said that it was the last feed and I had 1km to go (although I'm sure it was more than that). At 9:56am I walked up the beach in Myrtleville feeling very happy with myself. I had estimated that the swim would take about 7hrs but I beat that by over an hour so I was delighted.

Here is a picture of the swim course:

Sorry about the delay in posting it properly...!

Irish Age Groups Division 2, University of Limerick

Since I have absolutely no intention of doing anything for the next few hours I might as well write about the gala at the weekend, which surprisingly enough wasn't actually that bad!

Ok so it's been a while since I have been able to perform well at galas... I've been doing pretty good in training, finishing every set and hitting nearly all of my 85% times and all that technical stuff, but it just doesn'e reflect itself at meets. I think it's probably a psycholigical thing as much as anything else, I mean, if I can do the work in trainig then surely I can do it in competetion. Well this weekend, it all finally paid off. By that I mean that I actually got good PBs and even got pleaced well...

All through the week I had been doing very little. Firstly because I didn't want to be too tired going into the meet and also because I kind of needed to recover after the alst weekend. It was just all easy short swims, the alst one was Thursday night in Knockanannig where it was 21degC! On Friday I was incrediblt bored so I got a spin up to Limerick so I could support the people who were swimming on that day.

Saturday morning I was entered for the 100m Butterfly, don't ask why I entered this, I think it was because you had to enter 200m Freestyle and 200m I.M. plus two other 100m events and I certainly didn't want to do Backstroke or Breaststroke! I swam well enough, I think I may have got a 1:12 or someting like that... It was a PB anyway and my previous time was a 1:16 so a reasonably good improvement there. I was just outside the finals so was a "reservist".

In the evening I had the 200m Freestyle, apparently this was going to be my event so my coach insisted that I should do a few at 85% before going to line up. This was to get me into the mindset of swimming fast. And you know what, it really worked.. I do infact swim better after doing some fast work before the race. I took nearly 3secs off my old time to get a 2:11.84 which put me in 3rd place.

The next morning was the really important one, 100m Freestyle. The three of us who train in the middle lane together were all in this event. I was going in on a 1:02.15, Rory on 1:01.97 (that was the only time he ever beat me and is always reminding me), and James was going in on something well below the minute. In the heats James got the fastest with 59.40 but unfortunately got a big DQ for breaking! I got 1:00.79 and Rory got 1:00.51 so he was still marginally ahead. It was going to be a great final, the seeded times were 1:00.49, 1:00.50, 1:00.51, 1:00.51, 1:00.79 ans so on.. I was going in 5th and Rory 3rd. Lining up on the blocks I had three goals, beat Rory No. 1, break the minute No. 2 and get in the medals No. 3...

It was a great race. I can't remember who the winner was but he won in 59.55. Myself and Dylan Ryan from Ennis were joint 2nd in 1:00.10, Rory was 4th in 1:00.50. So goals 1 and 3 acheived and almost No. 2. Now it's just a case of losing that extra few kilos I'm carrying for the Channel and that 10th of a second is history. It feels great to be so close to that minute which I have been chasing for so long!

My last event for this year was the 200m I.M., not exactly my favourite event but it is compulsory so there's no point complainig about it... I'm not interested in this event at all so I didn't even know my PB. I found out later that it was 2:38, I just lined up and did the best I could. I took 3secs off to get a 2:35 which put me in 4th place s I got a nice certificate. Not too bad for somebody who doesn't do I.M. though. I think it was my Backstroke which let me down. It used to be my #1 stroke, not anymore!

I really enjoyed the whole weekend and to be honest I'm a bit disappointed that it's over for another year. My friend Chris Mintern from Sunday's Well did brilliantly, winning the swimmer of the meet award. Fermoy did very well overall, I don't have the exact number of medals and certificates but there wer loads anyway. Karen Sheehan cleaned up winning practically everything she entered, and she entered everything! Last week she came 3rd in 100m Breaststroke in the Inter-Provincials in Dublin and next week she is going to the Division 1s. Karaen is only 11 years old. Stacey Hegarty is also going to the Division 1s next week. Good Luck Karen and Stacey! We will also be missing Danielle O'Flynn next year. Dan decided to leave this year so it was her last ever outing with the Club, Bye Dan...!

So that's it for the moment. This Saturday, I am swimming from Cork City Hall to the Ocean, should take about 6 or 7hrs. We are starting at 4am. That's all I know so far so will updae on that later...

Some good progress...

The last week has been taken up with the International Long Distance Training Camp and a few other things... The camp started in Sandycove last Saturday 13th June. There were swimmers from the USA, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany and Sweden.

It is mostly two swims each day; a longer swim in the morning and a shorter swim in the evening. I wasn't able to make Monday morning but we did have the evening swim in the Blackwater. Tuesday I had Club Training in the morning and we went to Inishcarra for the evening swim. Inishcara was really nice, I can't believe I had never swam there before! Wednesday was a horrible 5am start in Sandycove. The tide was out and it was cold and stormy so we only did about 40mins. In the evening the river was too high to swim so we all did 2hrs in Knockanannig Resevoir in Fermoy and it was beautful.

I took Thursday and Friday off. Thursday I woke at 3:50am to be on the bus for 4:00am. This was for the Swimming Club trip to Oakwood in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We had a brilliant day. From the ferry in the middle of Saint George's Channel, it was easier to tell people what the English Channel would be like. I think that they were a little surprised at swimming in the open sea... It was very tiring though, two of the alds went back the next day with CBS Mitchelstown! I don't know how they did it. Friday I had a complete rest.

Saturday was very interesting... It was the 9mile Champion of Champions race in Sandycove. It consists of 5miles at 9am, 3miles at 2pm and a sprint mile at 5pm. The first leg from the Speckled Door was hard but I got there eventually. I finished third in both the second and third races. Overall I was 3hrs 48mins or something like that and in fourth place (first from outside the USA)...!The water was cold but I was looking forward to a slightly warmer day Sunday.

Saturday night I stayed at Ned's house, as did the Channel General/Queen Mother, Freda Streeter, who was brilliant to have around for the weekend. The next mornig we headed down to Sandycove for the 7hr swim. The tide was way out so there was no water to swim in, and what little water there was was freezing! But there was no point in complainig so we just had to grin and bare it... Our first feed was after 2hrs and God did I need it. I still hadn't managed to warm up at this point, it was only 11 or 12 Celsius. After that I fed every half our until5hrs 15mins... Then Ned said that we were going to only do 6hrs, that was welcome. So My last swim was a wide inside triangle and into the slipway at 6hrs 26secs. I had Qualified for the Channel! I would like to thank Noel (sorry don't know surname) who stayed with me for the last 90mins, I wouldn't have finished without you...

Also, today I went to Teach na Leanaí, a Montesorri school where I went before starting school. The children raised €200 for my swim through a charity walk we went on back in April sometime. Thanks a million everybody! I have now almost reached my fundraising target... Also, sorry for the lack of pictures, I don't think I want to remember my very cold 6hr. I will updae again next week after the Irish Age Groups Division 2 Gala in UL.

Martin Duggan Memorial Swim 2009

Last Saturday 6th June, we had the second annual Martin Duggan Memorial Swim in the River Blackwater in Fermoy. This year the swim was held under Swim Ireland insurance, so we had a good incentive to make it a great event for everyone. Apart from the record turn-out of 45 swimmers, we had a fantastic effort from a large number of volunteers.

We had 5 main boats, with two crew members each and radios, so many kayaks I lost count, 5 river-siade marshals, about 10 people who were making sandwiches, cakes, tea, coffee and many more who were just willing to help. A special thanks fo course is owed to Fermoy Rowing Club for the full use of their facilities on the day.

All the swimmers and volunteers were early so we were able to have the safety briefing on-time and have all the swimmers in the water by 2pm. But of course, at 2 o'clock on the dot, in typical Irish fashion, it started raining and all the sheets were destroyed which made things even more difficult for our brave time-keepers.

The first swimmers home were Stephen Brooks and Conor O'Brien, both 12 from Mitchelstown, who did the 1km swim. Going over the results of previous swims, we discovered that Stephen was not only the youngest participant, but also the fastest swimmer over the 1km distance. Well done lads! Both Stephen and Conor train 7hrs per week with Fermoy SC.

After a long stint out in the wind and rain, our timekeepers were finally able to go and get warmed up inside when the last swimmer home, Finbarr Heddderman, finished up after 2hrs 46mins. Last year Fin swam the English Channel in 13 and a half hours at the same temerature... Yes it was only 13.5 Celsius!

Aswell as all the refreshments, the swimmers and volunteers were also treated to a selection of my Dad's photos of Fermoy and the Blackwater and some photos of the swim on the big screen upstairs in the Rowing Club. There were a few unexpected guests who walked in thinking that this was the venue for the count of votes for the Urban Council Elections. It had been here in previous years but was moved 100m down the quay to the Youth Centre...

I would just like to thank all of the following people for their help on the day: Danny Higgins and Ken Barry of Fermoy Rowing Club for the use of the Clubhouse and the piloting of the two launches, Blackwater Sub-Aqua Club S&R Unit for their presence in a safety capacity both in the RIB and on the bank, Tony Hally for giving up his day to bring his own boat out on the river, Dónal Clancy for rounding up all the kayakers from Pheonix Kayak Club who dod such a great job and for providing the car-park of Quinn-healthcare, my Mam and Brigid Noonan and everyone else who made sandwiches and cakes etc. and finally Pádraig Barry who took hundreds of excellent photographs. Appologies to anyone who I have forgotten to mention.

I would also like to thank the Duggan family for their presence and for donating a shield which will be awarded to a swimmer every year in future...

Lough Sheelin, Co. Cavan

Well, home at last. I left for Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath on Saturday afternoon with my Mam, Dad and small brother. The drive up was fairly uneventful; we bypassed Mitchelstown (I won't make any smart comment just in-case) so it was motorway all the way to Cullahill, a few tailbacks in Abbeyleix and Portlaoise and we were there in three and a half hours.

Our hotel was very nice, the owner was a very funny woman. That night I had a nice 16oz T-bone steak with onions, mushrooms, pepper sauce and a bowl of chips followed by a good slice of hot chocolate fudge cake and a scoop of ice-cream. You need to eat lots the day before a swim! Dave, who was doing the 5km swim, and Brigid arrived with the two boys later.

Then on Sunday morning we headed out to the lake. It was a scorcher of a day and there was no wind so I was expecting to do a good time for the 10k. The 15k swimmers were just heading out as we arrived. It was a beautiful place and the water was quite warm. I caught up with a few more Channel aspirants, including Julieann Galloway (very fast), before eventually managing to register for the swim.

When we finally got into the water I was pleasantly surprised... It was quite warm and it was a beautiful clear lake, though it was a pity that everything was carpeted in those terrible zebra mussles that found there way in on the bottom of boats. After a bit of waiting around in the water, the clackson sounded and the race was on.

Right from the start Julieann was out in front and I was behind her in second. For the first lap I was able to navigate by watching her kayak. But by the second 2.5km lap, she was too far infront and I could see nothing. About half way through the second lap I stopped and took off my goggles. I had a look around and coul only see one boat in the distance, so I swam for that as I thought that was probably where the turn buoy was.

When I got to the turn buoy (which wasn't much bigger than a milk bottle) I decided that this was my last lap and found my way back by heading towards the hotel up on the hill. When I got out I was really annoyed that I hadn't been able to finish ust because the course was so poorly marked and I had no kayaker. I felt strong and not a bit cold. As you can imagine I was pretty pissed off so I just went over to the car for a while to calm down!

After I'd had a shower and got dressed I just relaxed at the side of the lake and tried to forget about the whole thing. I was thinking all sorts of things like "how hard can it be to find ten kayakers?" and "why were there only three gallon bottles marking a 2.5km lap on an open lake?". I know it sounds like I am trying to blame anything but myself, but I was genuinly annoyed about the whole thing, I really could have done the 10k.

Afterwards I found out that lots of people did the same thing as I did so I didn't feel like the only awkward customer... When Dave finished his 5k, we worked out that he had actually swam about 7k as a result of the course! When we got home I was finally bale to forget about it and move onto orgainising the Blackwater Swim on 6th June. The next day I did an 8k swim in Fermoy... pic above.

A Quick Update

It might look like I don't have any news for you since I haven't posted anything for a while. Well, surprise, surprise, I do have news; I just haven't had enough time to tell you about it because I have been very busy organising this year's Martin Duggan Memorial Swim in the Blackwater. While I have a chance, here a few quick updates:

1) The open-water season is finally starting to properly get going. I did a 5km swim in the Blackwater at 6am with Ned on Monday and a 7.5km swim today. It is about 11 or 12 Celsius at the moment which is well below the average for this time of year. We have also had some new faces on the river, Stephen Brooks and Conor O'Brien, both 12 from Mitchelstown, did their first ever swim last week. They swam 700m in their skins and it was only 11 degrees. Well done Stephen and Conor!

2) Things are also going well on the sponsorship front. On Tuesday, we had our Transition Year Graduation ( yes, I am on summer holidays). Before receiving our Certs, I was presented with €570 from the TY Mini-Company for the Irish Cancer Society and over €300 from the College Staff. Fermoy Swimming Club also sent me a cheque for €100. I wouldn't expect this as it is I who owe them and the Club is not exactly loaded...

3) In other [competion] news, I am heading up to Cavan tomorrow for the Lough Sheelin 10k National Championships on Sunday. I have never done an official 10k race before so it will be very interesting to see how I get on... and if I get selected for the Irish Panel, although I doubt it somehow.

Well, that's it for the moment. I will post next week to let you know how I get on in Lough Sheelin. Hopefully I will Have a few nice pistures too.

Open-Water.......AT LAST

Finally, the weather has started to get better and the water is warming up. For the last week or so I have been getting into the sea and the resevoir at every opportunity. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with my ability to swim in cold water after such a long winter...

It started with a short swim in the river back in March. It was 7 Celsius and my extra weight proved a big help in keeping out the cold. Then about two weeks ago I headed down to Sandycove with Dave for a lap of the Island. It was warmer than I was expecting but I had completely forgotten how to swim in waves, but I'm sure I will get used to it again quickly. Now we have a a few swims in the Resevoir and Sandycove. My next task is to do a double lap of Sandycove and an hour swim.

Now I am really looking forward to the Distance Camp in Cork for two weeks in June. It is sure to be a great experience with so many swimmers coming from around Ireland and overseas, also the Great Freda Streeter, a.k.a. The Channel General is coming for the Champion of Champions on the 20th and the 7hr swim on the 21st.

Nothing much else to say really only that everything is on track and it's only four or five weeks to the summer holidays... Just a reminder to say thanks to everyone who as sponsored me so far, there have been some really great donations on the website, keep them coming.

Click here to DONATE...

Also, check out Lisa Cummins' blog. Lisa is from Blackrock in Cork and is also swimming the same week as me. But she is swimming all the way to France and back again! It's certainly worth having a read...

Stepping up the training...

In January, I knew that the training that I was doing wasn't enough, but I wasn't sure either how much or what type of training I should be doing. So when Ned, e-mailed me to see if I would like to do a 20km swim in Source Pool, I was delighted. I would get one big pool swim in and get to meet coach Eilís Burns. Eilís has coached 8 out of 8 successful Cork Channel Swimmers. She was the person to put me on the right track.

When I told her that I was only doing 25km a week, I'm sure she was appalled! I was a bit surprised when she said that I should be doing 45km every week and 60km a few weeks in March, but after a few more of the 20km pool swims, I thik it sounds alot more achievable. This week however I have no long swim in Source so I will have to slog it out in Fermoy. I have the free training, so I better make use of it.

The last two weeks I dis 48.5km and 47.2km so this week I am aiming for about the same. Will be updating again soon....

Oops... I almost forgot I had a blog!

Ok, it has been a fairly long time since my last post. Firstly, on New Year's Eve there was a charity swim in Garryvoe in East Cork. One of my friends who goes to Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire is going to Kolkata(formerly Clacutta) later in the year with the Hope Foundation. He and a few others decidi to run a charity swim in Garryvoe to raise funds for the trip.

There was a good crowd turned up. Even with all of the planning, one important detail was forgotten, the tide, wich if you get it wrong in Garryvoe means that you have a long trudge out to swimmable water. It was windy and rough, but the swim was very enjoyable. I say the "swim", for most people it was more of a splash and dash event. Except for Maria Sheehan who managed to stay in for a minute or two. I managed to do 11mins after the horrible twisting injury I did to my knee on entering the water. The beacjh is covered in little craters and it's easy to fall into them when they are submerged. Alltogether it was a nice event to pass away New Year's Eve and to raise money for charity.


Also, last weekend my family went to Dublin for my Dad's birthday. While we were there I decided that it might be a good idea to go to the National Aquatic Centre. I got to have a good swim in their 50m, 10-lane Olympic sized pool and later I went with my brother and sister to the leisure part of the Centre. The 50m pool was fantastic, and I didn't get stuck behnd lots of slow people and have to turn every 20secs! Since I am still a child I get to enjoy things like waterslides, and the NAC had really good ones! I also got to try out the "flow-rider", a kind of artificial wave for boarding on. It's a bit tricky at first but once you get the hang of it it's great fun.


The NAC is a truly magnificant faclilty, it's a sort of Croke Park of Irish swimming. I do hope that it survives long enough for everyone to enjoy it. And I promise, it won't be too long before my next post!