Clodagh swims English channel in record time
PHARMACIST and trainee doctor Clodagh Murray from Larkhill Road in Sligo has made a solo crossing of the English Channel — in an impressive 10 hours, 51 minutes.
This confirms her as the second- fastest Irish woman to ever swim the channel — and means she holds one of the top five times of any Irish person to swim the 21- mile course.
But Clodagh, who is a qualified pharmacist and entering her final year of medical school in Trinity College, Dublin, almost missed her chance to take on one of the world’s toughest sporting challenges because of bad weather.
She spent a full week waiting in Dover for the right weather conditions and was finally told at 8pm on the evening before that she would be starting the swim at 5.50am the next morning, August 14.
“I had to meet the pilot and crew at 5am, which meant getting up at 3.30am. I hardly slept as I was so nervous — and excited. The waiting was one of the most gruelling aspects of the entire endeavour,” says Clodagh, who is a Trinity Scholar.
“It’s what also makes it so different to other sporting challenges as there is no start time or date. It is all down to Mother Nature so you need to be ready to peak when the weather Gods decide to play ball. If I didn’t get a break in the weather, I would have been told to come back next year.”
Conditions were rough for Clodagh’s swim, with winds reaching force three and four at different stages. “The choppiness felt relentless, like there was no let up in the wind,” she says.
“The one thing I wasn’t prepared for was the number of jellyfish and I got my first sting after about three hours.
“Because I was so cold and a bit numb, the stings were almost a distraction from the weather conditions. You are swimming into them telling yourself to put your head down and get on with it.”
The preparation for swimming the English Channel is tough and Clodagh trained throughout the winter under the watchful eye of Coach David Warby of Connect to Perform.
Her average week consisted of six swims, two gym sessions and three to four yoga classes. Clodagh credits yoga and meditation with the mental side of her preparation.
“In many ways I had a particularly difficult run up to the crossing and yoga helped me through this allowing me to remain calm and focused,” says Clodagh who is planning to complete a Yoga instructor course when she finishes her medical training.
The rules of channel swimming mean you can only wear a hat, goggles and swimsuit — there are no wetsuits allowed. Once you start swimming, you can’t stop. Crew members are allowed to throw the swimmers carbohydrate drinks attached to a line every half hour.
Swimming the channel solo has always been a dream for Clodagh, who is originally from Sligo, and she has been training for this moment for the past year.
Last summer, she completed an English Channel crossing as part of a relay. “We landed on Wissant beach in France at around midnight. It was almost magical and, from that moment on, I was gunning to do it as a solo swimmer,” says Clodagh.
In both 2012 and 2013, she completed the Warrior of the Sea ( 6k) and Lough Gill Swim ( 10k) open- water events in Sligo, always managing a podium finish. In 2014, she was the fastest woman home in the Francis Thornton Memorial Galway Bay 13K swim in just 2 hours, 57 minutes.
“I absolutely loved all of these events and it is always a pleasure to be involved in anything so well organised, with so many brilliant swimmers and dedicated support crew all working together.
“You don’t just turn up in Dover and you definitely don’t get there alone — all of these swims are really important stepping stones along the way,” says Clodagh.
Clodagh has started writing a health and lifestyle blog, drawing on her own personal experiences as a pharmacist, trainee doctor and sportswoman.
“You can read her posts at iammorethanmedicine. com.”