The tenth of November, 2018 sees the launch of the new North Channel Swimming Association, with a public announcement by Channel Swimmer and inaugural Chairperson Antonio Argules in San Francisco (and here on Loneswimmer). Since before Tom Blower’s first successful North Channel solo in 1947 (previously covered on Loneswimmer here), North Channel swim attempts have been…
The voting for the inaugural Global Marathon Swimming Awards closed at the New Year and early last week the winners were announced. There were three categories of award for the first year, 2012: Female Performance of the Year Male Performance of the Year The Barra Award for the most Impressive Overall Body of Work for…
Stephen Redmond today made swimming history by becoming the first person to complete the Ocean’s 7 swim challenge after 12 hours 45 minutes. Around the world thousands were following Steve’s fourth Tsugaru Channel swim to complete the challenge, including a bunch of tense Sandycove swimmers at Communications Central in Sandycove-on-Sea (aka Dover). And along with…
Edit: sorry I didn’t update this earlier, I figured all those interested would know but a lot of people are still checking. Stephen was pulled out after 12 hours on his second attempt due to being stuck in an adverse current. Those of you who have read the blog for a long time will know…
I put it together with a selection of photographs from many of Stephen’s swims and maps of the different Channels and some Stephen’s family and crews. Enjoy it before it gets a takedown notice. Photos from Stephen and Noel Browne. I’ll update it at some point with more pictures, especially Cook Strait and Molokai and…
Evan did a great 4-part series on open water marathon feeding and nutrition. I’ve covered the possible use of Choline supplementation and I’ve a long-standing request in with a friend for a guest post on the subject of further supplementation. Given some questions that have arisen though, it seems we haven’t covered enough of the…
It’s been a stressful two days for Stephen (and his supporters). A question was raised over the completion of his Molokai swim, which Stephen addresses below. The assertion was that Stephen might not have cleared the water and hence might not have completed the Molokai Channel swim. I could write a whole post on this…
Another week, another swim and another swim report from Stephen, to whom, as always, I am indebted for sharing this with me and therefore you. Untouched as last week, (Stephen writes this stuff on his phone always). I still can’t get over Stephen doing both these swims only 8 days apart. If you don’t have…
I find a lot of similarity between Stephen Redmond’s fantastic Molokai Channel and Lisa Cummins’s two-way English Channel. Waiting for news and updates all through a Sunday afternoon and night. The trackers working intermittently or not at all, and hoping for more updates from the boat through third parties. The agonising last 10 hours, wondering where they…
(I accidentally sent out a brief version of this post yesterday to subscribers, sorry about that). Some of you will have already seen Stephen’s own post-Cook swim report. He emailed me on Saturday night so I can put it up here. He titled it a “Widowmaker swim”. Stephen is not prone to exaggeration so for him…
Captain Webb’s successful English Channel crossing and Gertrude Ederle’s solo make 1875 and 1926 maybe the two greatest years ever. But for this generation of open water and marathon swimmers, operating under Channel rules, 2012 is going to be really exiting and probably astonishing. Some of the events on the list: Penny Palfrey‘s North Channel…
There are swimming legends around the world. Little known outside our sport. Some past, some current. In a country with a very small population of only four million, Ireland is only occasionally successful in International Sport, and we celebrate our sporting heroes as a consequence. But in Open Water Marathon swimming, we excel. World Open…
He had a tough swim apparently, (those who know of Stephen know those words seem unusual together). Stephen is the first (and only) person to solo Fastnet Lighthouse. Fastnet might mean nothing to you, unless you are a sailor or Irish, but it’s some of the most fearsome open water in Atlantic coastal waters due…
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