10 kms Swim - Andrew Parkinson

10kms, we can run and cycle that distance, but can you swim it? Last Saturday, 19th September, Andrew Parkinson, former club secretary did that at Lough Gill in 4 hours and raised over €5,000 for a small charity in Kenya in doing so. It is a roundabout story about what happens to you when you do too many triathlons and your perspective about the world you live in changes.

Andrew's fiance Valerie is from Kilmore Co Leitrim which is situated at the top of Lough Gill and her family run a tourist boating business, the ‘Rose of Innisfree’, on the lake. Think Corrib Princess and you have the idea. Andrew’s IronMan and early season swimming feats had him sitting looking out the family window and asking ‘How long is the lake from the top in Leitrim to the tip in Sligo?’. It was answered with questions on did the distance include the Yeats tour or cut off by the Fairy island finally a distance of 10km was agreed and measured on charts from pier to pier. Then came the obvious question from a person who sits on a bike for seven hours and then runs a marathon but a question that has probably never been asked before in Kilmore, ‘Has anyone swam it?’. Thus it started, the Innisfree was offered, a rib secured for safety and then a charity picked. Now all that needed was to pick a date and swim the lake.

During the summer Andrew and Rory Brennan have been swimming at 7 am at the prom and I have been joining then on a semi regular basis. Late July the talk turned to the Leitrim swim and Andrew asked Rory and I to support swim. He also asked club secretary Eileen Sweeny and his future brother in law.

The day arrived with the Innisfree loaded with 80+ people of all ages and sizes. The weather was generous with a bright blue sky with a breeze to keep it real. The chop grew all morning, no sea swell but a strong chop pushed up the lake by the breeze. At 14:18 Andrew and Rory jumped from the pier into the lake. Those on the boat nodded their heads in collusion of an idea that Valerie had indeed been, as Kylie sang ‘Lucky, Lucky, Lucky’ to get a man who wanted to swim the lake when a boat with a fully stocked bar could take you there. Strange times indeed.

At about 15:40 I jumped into the water and swam with the two boys who had made good progress. Rory was swimming in speedos and keeping good pace for Andrew. The water was colder than the sea so Rory jumped out after the 1:30hrs of swimming. Respect!

Andrew and I ploughed on for another 1:30hrs with a stiffening chop and breeze. Navigation was hard and we did go off course as we mistakenly sighted from an incorrect point. The pace was steady and we stopped every twenty minutes for Andrew to take a gel and some water. Once we got to the upper end of the lake the chop dramatically declined and the last kilometre of my stint was quite enjoyable.

The final stretch of about 2.5 kms Eileen took over and had a lovely swim up the river to the final destination. The river exit is very like Dangan but a bit narrower. Paul, then joined for the final 1.5kms. Approaching the pier, Andrew was still swimming well, not as powerful as when he started but the stroke was good, high elbows, good glide and kicking. The support swimmers held back letting Andrew take the well deserved huge round of applause and a big duvet stepping out of the water at 16:18 exactly four hours after jumping in.

On the return journey, in the falling twilight we passed Fairy Island which in ancient lore is where the fairies used bring young children that they had stolen and the place by the waters and the wild described in Yeats’ poem ‘Stolen Child’ (The Waterboys have a version on the Fisherman’s Blues album). Valerie’s father gave a beautiful and moving rendition of the poem to cap a wonderful day out.

Remarkably after all that effort, Andrew still managed to go for a few pints and be photographed celebrity style falling from a pub at 4:30 AM stoked on Red Bull and Vodka and suspect SuperMac bag in hand. Respect!