A TEAM of Dublin firefighters were taking a rest yesterday evening having broken the Irish record for swimming the English Channel by four hours.
The six members of Dublin Fire Brigade, all international or national standard swimmers aged between 29 and 53, completed the swim from Dover to Cap Griz Nez in France and back, in a time of 21 hours and 12 minutes on Sunday.
Rachael Lee, team captain, said she was delighted to have completed the challenge, but said it was "gruelling" and often "horrible". "As a challenge, it is one of the hardest things we have ever done," she said. "We got to France in under 10 hours, but swimming back for over 11 hours in darkness and turbulent weather was not a pleasant experience. It was like swimming in a washing machine."
Greg O'Dwyer, Brian McLoughlin, Tom Healy, Tony Cruise and Brendan McGrattam were the other team members. They were assisted by team manager Dave Fitzgerald and paramedic Colm Murphy.
The 97km (60-mile) swim, which raised €7,000 for charity Cáirde Ethopia, took the team through what is regarded as one of the busiest and most difficult shipping lanes in the world. The swimmers, numbered one to six, would each swim for an hour before returning to the team boat and letting the next team member take to the water for their stint.
Martin Cullen of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association commended the team: "Team swimming can be particularly cruel as you can't do anything other than warm yourself, eat, rest and feel seasick because the boat travels slowly while your team mates swim their leg . . .
"It's an excellent achievement by a very strong team."
