An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 33 BY CQMS DEIRDRE O'RAW O n 20 July the fourteenth Frances Thornton Memorial Galway Bay Swim took place in aid of Cancer Care West, a charity that provides residential and cancer support services free of charge for patients and their families. In those 14 years over 500 swimmers from around the world have completed the 13km swim, as individuals and in relay teams, with many returning year after year. For most, the preparation begins early in the year, building up the mile- age in the pool until the water gets slightly warmer and they can start swimming in the sea. For me, however, it was only six weeks before swim day that I got offered a place, which meant I had to put a fairly intensive training programme in place. Also, every swimmer has to complete a time trial in order to compete (solo swimmers have to swim 4km in 90mins and each member of a relay team has to swim 2km) and I only had a week to get ready for this. With the time trial successfully completed and my place secured, it was time to get training and fund raising. My training involved swimming a minimum of 25km a week and making sure to do a long swim in the sea at the weekend. The fund raising was more fun, for me at least. With the help of a few CTIs (confidence training instructors) from the Defence Forces As- sociation of Mountaineers, we ran a day of abseiling from the Fire Tower in the DFTC. Thankfully, bad weather didn't stop people giving it a go. With money raised, training done, and boat and crew sorted by the Army Dive Group, it was the weekend of the swim. The race brief on the Friday night gave us our waves and all the information that we needed. Early Saturday morning we met at the bus for the anxious drive to Augh- inish Island. After checking in, making sure our boat was in place, and tak- ing the all-important wave photograph, it was time to get into the water, where conditions were the worst in ten years, with a wave height of 1.5m, a tidal range of 3.2m, a wind speed of 12-16kts and a temperature of 17°C. I found the first 2km to Deer Island the hardest part of the swim (this part is without boat support) as the wave height made finding my boat a bit of a task. There were also many, many jellyfish; thankfully compass, whose sting is not as bad as the lion's mane. Eventually I made it through the jellyfish to my boat and the swim really began. In open-water swimming sea conditions can really affect your speed and it is extremely hard to know how far you have come, how far is left, and what direction you are travelling. Therefore, it was great to meet the boat, as the crew's job is steering the direction I swim, as well as looking after my welfare, ensuring that I don't come down with hypothermia. Of course, they are also great for morale. I was working off a 40min feeding plan; swimming for 40mins and then eating brioche buns with peanut butter and jam and drinking milk for fluid. After several feeds and a good bit of swimming I started to hear the crowd at Blackrock, about 2km out from shore. I continued past Foudra, a buoy 1km from Blackrock, and about 500m away from shore the boat left me and it was time for the final push. The clock stopped when I stood up at the steps, which are quite daunt- ing when you've been swimming for nearly five hours. However, you even- tually make it up the steps to get the hard-earned Galway Bay Swim towel, and of course the standard can of coke and cup of tea. With the swim finished for another year it was time to get changed, sit down for a nice meal and begin the recovery process.

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