Success in the North Channel

Success in the North Channel At 2.30am on Thursday 25th August 2016 I woke up in my hotel room in Donagadhee, Northern Ireland.  I had managed to get a few hours of broken sleep but the knowledge that today would be the day of my most challenging swim to date was...

swimming between Ireland and Scotland to mark the Ten Year Anniversary of my English Channel Swim

Swimming between Ireland and Scotland to mark the Ten Year Anniversary of my English Channel Swim On 22nd August 2006 I swam solo across the English Channel in 14 hours aged 19. Today marks the ten year anniversary of the swim that changed my life in every single way....

How to Cope with Not completing a swim and what it takes to go back

How to Cope with Not completing a swim and what it takes to go back You have trained for years, sacrificed a social life, family time and endured pure exhaustion in your journey to complete your open water swim but then it all falls apart at the final hurdle. This is...

Time to Return to the North Channel

Time to Return to the North Channel Two months ago on 2nd September I was 18 miles into my North Channel swim between Ireland and Scotland when an abnormal amount of jellyfish forced me to stop. I was suffering a very serious reaction to hundreds of stings and was...

The Irish Channel Attempt 2014

The Irish Channel Attempt 2014 The alarm went off at 3.30am although I had barely slept a wink that night due to the nerves of what was about to come. 18 months of hard training 6 days a week had finally come to fruition as I was about to prepare for the hardest swim...