Circumnavigation Dedication

Open water swimmers around the world continue to trudge to the seashore or lakeshore day after day, month after month, year after year. They share a love of the outdoors and the joys and challenges that oceans and lakes bring. Mike Harris, a former winner of the Lee Swim in Ireland, who is perhaps typical of these open water stalwarts.

Mike has completed over 1,000 roundtrip swims of Sandycove Island (shown below), totaling over 1,931K (1,200 miles) during the past 15 years while never missing any one of the monthly swims.

Even a second knee replacement was not enough to stop Mike during 2008. 25 of his colleagues recently got together in the 9.4°C (49°F) water around Sandycove Island to celebrate Mike’s return to the sea, only a few weeks after Mike’s surgery. Mike had the honor to lead the pack out to the island, although his circulation was not back to normal.

One English Channel swimmer commented, "Mike was clearly struggling, but I sure wasn't going to try to pass between him and the rocks of the Island – I tried it once a few years ago in a race and still have the scratches to prove it."

We smile at the thought – because we know better than we take the best line from an passionate open water swimmer – no matter his age or physical condition.

An Irish Swim With a Twist

For nearly 100 years, the Lee Swim has continued its storied history as one of the top open water swimming events in Ireland. The race is conducted annually in July in the Lee River in Cork in southern Ireland.

The 2K course in the Lee River runs through the center of the City where crowds in excess of an estimated 5,000 gather from bridges to cheer on the swimmers. The first Lee Swim was held in 1914 with over 300 swimmers have entered in recent years.

The swim has an interesting twist: 1.7K of the course is downstream in the Lee River and the last 300 meters is conducted upstream. The course can be seen here.

A newer swim on the Irish open water swimming circuit is the Sandycove Island Challenge which has been held annually in Sandycove since 1994. The 1.8K course starts from the slipway at Sandycove, wraps around Sandycove Island and returns to the slipway. The Cork Masters Swimming Club and the Cork Lions Club organize the swim as a joint charity event held annually in September.

We had previously noted Sandycove Island as one of the great circumnavigational swims in the world. Sandycove Island is the venue of nearly 150 swims each year and is an excellent training location for those preparing for an English Channel attempt with its clean crisp water, visible sunken reefs and waving sea plants.