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!

Some sponsorship...

When I first decided that I was going to swim the Channel I realised that it was going to be a very expensive goal. I thought that it would be a good idea to get alot of the funds I needed from a corporate sponsor. I recently wrote a letter to Riordan's SuperValu, Fermoy, explaining what I was doing and that I would be very happy if they could help me out a bit. Two weeks later, I got a cheque for €1,000 in the post. Since then alot of people have said that they would like to sponsor both the charity and my own expenses. So with a few extra hours at work I should do fine.

So it's thanks a million to the Riordans and evryone who has helped me out so far... Also, I would like to wish everyone a [belated] Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

SAVE FERMOY WEIR...!

Everyone, please help save the weir that makes the beautiful River Blackwater what it is! Without our weir, Fermoy would never be the same. No more swimming, no more rowing, no more diving, etc, etc, etc... We have to stop the Dept. Energy, Communications & Natural Resources before they take away our beautiful river.

The proposed plans for the weir will destroy everything that makes Fermoy special. For one, my training for the Channel Swim will be severly hamperred and many fond memories will be lost. There are far more practical, cheaper and above all, safer allternatives available. Check out the website: http://www.fermoyweir.wordpress.com/ for more information...

Don't make us say goodbye to this...!

November...

With winter beginning to set in the time has come to start into some serious pool training. It is also time to start bringing all of the l;ogistics of making a Channel Swim together. One of the things that alot of people choose to combine their swim with is raising money for a chosen charity. I had always intended to do this but was having trouble picking out the charity that I wanted to support. Well, on the morning of Thursday 6th November 2008 my mind was made up for me.

On the 1st October my Grandmother was informed that she had cancer that had spread throughout her body and that there was no treatment available. The only thing to do now was to bring her home and make her as comfortable as possible. There were a few people who this would not have been possible without. My Grandfather, her husband of 44yrs who gave her 24hr attention, my mother, who was able to understand and administer all of the medication, our family doctor, Dr. O'Grady, who came at least twice every day, and the Irish Cancer Society, who's Night Nursing service proved to be invaluable.

The Irish Cancer Society is funded totally by voluntary donations and receive no government funding. They are committed to finding new ways of preventing and curing cancer and providing the best care possible for those who are terminally ill. By being in the house at night, the night nurse gives the family a chance to have some rest and are there to support everyone when death is near.

I am swimming the Channel in memory of my Grandmother, who was looking forward emmensly to the event, and to raise funds for this worthy organisation. You can see their website by following this link: Irish Cancer Society, and you can visit my fundraising page at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/ec4cancer. All donations made on the MyCharity.ie website are very secure and are very much appreciated.

Thanks for your support.