By Andy Spearman
In over half a century of covering news I’ve seldom met such an inspirational person as 16-year-old Clogherhead girl Abi McNamara who yesterday completed a 27.5 kilometre swim from Gyles Quay to Clogherhead.
To swim that far is an awesome feat, well beyond the capability of the vast majority of people, but it was the manner in which young Abi completed it, quietly and with great determination, that was most impressive.
Abi started swimming at 8.00 yesterday morning at Gyles Quay which is 22 kilometres to Port Oriel as the crow flies. But of course crows don’t swim and, unlike swimmers, they are not subject to the whims of the tide and the wind.
Tidal conditions changed an hour or two into the swim and Abi and her support boat were carried out to sea more than they had expected by the tide coming out of Dundalk Bay so her swim was extended by an extra 5.5 kms.
A couple of hundred people had gathered at the slipway at Port Oriel to cheer Abi home and waited patiently as a dot on the horizon, which people with binoculars and telephoto lenses assured us was Abi’s support boat, grew slowly larger.
People watching from the main pier had a better view and were also entertained by a school of porpoises darting around in the water, before long however, not only was the boat clearly visible but Abi could be seen powering along in the water.
Abi McNamara’s Mum Michelle (left) and cousins Faith and Sean Dennis cheer her home to Clogherhead after her 27.5 kilometre swim from Gyles’s Quay. Photo: Andy Spearman.
We made our way round to the slipway and after a few minutes a huge cheer went up as Abi swam around the end of the pier and began the last hundred metres or so of her swim.
For someone who at that stage had been swimming for eight hours and 24 minutes, she was going at a fair speed but she needed assistance to climb out of the water onto the slip. Not only was it slippery underfoot, her legs had turned to jelly.
After an anxious moment or two Abi was safely on dry land and an even bigger cheer went up as family members rushed down the slipway to greet the homecoming heroine and wrap her in their arms and some lovely warm towels.
Speaking to Drogheda Life this morning Abi’s father Will, who was on the support boat throughout the day along with people from Infinity Channel Swimming the official monitors for the swim, said that he was immensely proud of his daughter.
“Myself, Abi’s Mum Michelle and the rest of the family are just so proud of her” he said, “proud to have supported her throughout the swim itself and the lead up to it, but also extremely proud that she did it as a fundraiser for the RNLI of whom she is a keen supporter.”
Will said that the conditions changed a couple of hours into the swim and Abi had to deal with some “massive swells” but refused to give up and dug deep and averaged 70 strokes per minute.
This phenomenal stroke rate had dipped somewhat towards the end of the swim but when she was 500 metres out from Port Oriel Abi heard the cheers coming from ashore and that perked her up no end.
“She was just so pleased and proud that the local community had turned out in such numbers to welcome her back” Will said.
He added that only for the event was a fundraiser for the RNLI nobody would have known the swim was happening such is Abi’s modesty.
“I told her that if she wanted to do it she would have to get used to being in the public eye” he said.
When asked this morning about how she felt about her achievement Abi said: “I’m just wrecked! But I’m so happy too, it feels great to have finally done what we have been talking about for ages.
She said that she never felt like giving up even though she did get very tired several times. “The Infinity crew were just great” she said, “they are a great team and they got me through with their encouragement and helped to keep me focused.
“The main thing for me was that I didn’t get a single jellyfish sting although there were plenty of them about
She added that the swim was something she always wanted to do as a test for herself and the RNLI was always going to be the charity she would support.
Asked about rumours that she was planning to tackle the swim from Port Oriel to Gyles Quay and then back to Port Oriel she just laughed. “Maybe next year!” She said, “for now though. I’m going to take it a bit easy.”
I reckon that Abi’s idea of taking things “a bit easy” is a lot different to most people’s it’s certainly different to mine. I reckon that Abi McNamara is a young woman that is going places and we will be hearing a lot about her future achievements.
Speaking of achievements, Abi set out to raise €1,000 for the Clogherhead Lifeboat and at time of writing she has smashed that figure which is now very close to €3,000. The appeal will be live for another few days so why not click the link below and donate whatever you can afford.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/abis-22kportorielswim
Here are the official swim stats:
- Port Oriel Swim
- Abi McNamara
- Start time 08:00 Finish Time 16:23:51
- Total time 8:23:51
- Distance swam 27.5K
- Escort infinity Channel Swimming
