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Top endurance swimmers work out at Lough Hyne

July 15th, 2017 9:55 PM

By Southern Star Team

Endurance swimmers Noel Browne (left), who recently swam the Strait of Gibraltar, and Nathan Timmins of Clonakilty, who will be attempting to swim the English Channel on Sunday, pictured with Ned Dennison at Lough Hyne.

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Endurance swimmers from all over the world converged on Lough Hyne on Wednesday morning as part of the Cork Distance Week.

BY JACKIE KEOGH


ENDURANCE swimmers from all over the world converged on Lough Hyne on Wednesday morning as part of the Cork Distance Week.

Ned Denison, who lives in Kinsale, and is an inductee into the international marathon hall of fame, led 81 swimmers in a nine-day training schedule that included two three-hour sessions at Lough Hyne.

Among the group was Nathan Timmins (39) of Clonakilty who will be attempting to swim the English Channel on Sunday, July 16th next.

Nathan told The Southern Star he has been preparing for this challenge for the last two years, although he did admit that endurance swimming is a form of ‘lunacy.'

Local Lough Hyne lapper, Noel Browne – who has succeeded in swimming the Straights of Gibraltar – was there to meet and greet the group, and he described the lappers as being ‘as much a social club as a swimming club.'

At a lunchtime get-together in Annie May's in Skibbereen, the international visitors also got to meet Stephen Redmond, who is still the only man in the world to complete the 7 Oceans swim.

The theme for this year's gathering was how to overcome a feeling of defeat.  War stories were exchanged among and one woman summed up the collective willpower when she said: ‘There's always a 1,000 reasons to get out, but generally only one over-riding reason to stay.' In short, she said every marathon swimmer is motivated to finish the challenge they have set themselves.

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