Sandycove Swimmers

Well, we had blue skies and 23degC…must have been the warmest I can remember for this swim ever….perfect conditions I thought, as I drove down to Union Hall. Parked up and went to hop out into the sunshine – but realised the car door was challenged by an easterly wind looking for attention. We had an interesting swim ahead of us.

Having said that, 58 enthusiastic swimmers took off from the beach in Union Hall to head for the sheltered and balmy conditions over on the Glandore side.

Despite being teased by a friendly seal, Chris Mintern arrived home first in a superb time of 15.42 m. First lady home and in tog was Carol Cashell in 19.11m. First gentleman home in togs was John Nunan in 22.24m. First lady home in wetsuit was Aideen Caulfield in 20.58m. Well done all!

Huge thanks to the volunteers who helped me on the day – Kieran and Dee Sheehan, for providing boat cover. Sally Kelly and Eibhlis Wilcox for registration and start. Barry O’Sullivan for boat watch. Anne Harris and Lisa Cummins for time keeping. Much appreciated.

And of course, huge thanks to all the participants who made the it a great swim and a great evening!

The RedDrive Lee Swim challenge was an initiative founded by Ossi Schmidt and supported by RedFM to introduce some challenge hungry volunteers to open water swimming and train them for for the 2km Lee Swim 2012.

The idea was to announce the challenge on RedDrive, the weekday afternoon show on RedFm presented by Dave Mac. He instantly received text messages/emails and 4 challengers signed up. Not to be outdone, Cork Lions Club found 4 more.

http://soundcloud.com/ossiphysiocork/sets/the-red-drive-challenge
Carol Cashell (featured on the Lee Swim poster!) kindly undertook the role of coach for these Lee Swim aspirants. Coaching includes stroke correction each week for an hour and a training programme, which has been posted on the Lee Swim Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/Lee.Swim

There are now approximately 4 other swimmers training to be first time Lee Swimmers in 2012 based on the training programme on Facebook alone!

The challengers are progressing nicely and have even had their first taste in the open water this year.
All the challengers will be in the final wave on the 14th July, so that they all get in together and swim at their own pace. Am sure there will be some friendly competition between the challengers themselves!!
Wish all the challengers the very best of luck and well done to everyone involved!

Hi folks,

As part of his English Channel swim, Páraic Casey is raising money for The Society of St Vincent de Paul and Marymount Hospice, two very worthy charities.

He is holding a special fundraising table quiz this Thursday, the 24th May, at the South County in Douglas, Cork, at 8pm.

Please come and support these very worthy causes.

More details can be found on Páraic’s blog here – http://sleepswim2012.blogspot.com/2012/04/fundraising-events-galway-and-cork.html

Your help is much appreciated!

This is a truly wonderful encounter of swimming with Dolphins in Myrtleville on Monday last:

http://ccswimmer.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/delightful-dolphins/

If you ever wanted a reason to swim in the sea ….

Thank you for sharing this Carmel – remarkable story!

Well done to Finbarr and Lisa who both achieved milestones over the weekend – No Fin, am not referring to your birthday, you’ve a few years to go

Finbarr Hedderman swam his 1,000th lap on Sat 5th May.

Lisa Cummins swam her 500th lap on Sat 5th May.

They both reached their 100th lap for 2012, not to mention a record 6 hrs in 10 degC water!

You may ask – how they were feeling afterwards :

http://sandycoveswimmers.com/achievements/

Huge thanks to everyone who participated, whether by swimming, running, volunteering in the Redman Aquathon on April 29th. 

The weather was less than desirable but everyone took it in good spirit and enjoyed a fun day out!

Ned Denison was first out of the water and Carmel Collins had the 1st lady home title robbed from her at the last second. Well done both of you!

My Crew of Volunteers

Big thank you to my volunteers for helping me with the swim: Jon Hynes, Steven Black, Jane Keating, Eoin O’Riordan, Jen Lane and the gang with Steve above: Donal Buckley, Paraic Casey, Riana Parsons, Owen O’ Keefe and Lisa Cummins.

 Full results can be found here:

http://westcorktri.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/redman-results/

The great news is that €650 was raised on the day towards Steve’s Tsugaru Channel Swim and his team have told me they have all they need to get the big man to Japan! He is heading out on the 9th June … so watch this space.

Best of luck Steve!