Two seasoned Irish adventurers passed along the Waterford coastline this week, as they embark on the opening leg of the longest endurance swim ever undertaken in Ireland.
David Burns and Maghnus Collins Smith are attempting to make history by becoming the first swimmers to ever circumnavigate the Irish coastline.
They set off in early June on a whopping 1,600 km journey that will take them around the coast on a trip that they expect will take up to four months to complete.
The two adventurers set off from South Dublin and spent three weeks travelling along the Wicklow and Wexford coastline – much of it taking place as far as 10k off shore.
Their ‘Swim360’ effort is being sponsored by retailer‘ Costcutters’, and is being undertaken to raise funds for two chosen charities, Gorta-Self Help Africa and the RNLI. In completing the course it will put the two 30 year olds on course for a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest swim ever undertaken in the Atlantic Ocean.
No strangers to extreme sporting endeavours, Dublin-based David Burns and Limerick-man Maghnus Collins Smith previously completed a charity cycle to South Africa and back, have run the legendary Sahara Sand Marathon, and in 2013 undertook a 14,000 km cycle, run and raft along Asia’s ‘Silk Roads’, from Istanbul to Shanghai.
The pair have time-tabled their effort on a ‘six hours on, six hours off’ rota of swimming to resting, and are being accompanied on the trip by a support crew using jet-skis, inflatables and other boats during different stages of the trip.
On the eve of departure David Burns predicted that the expedition would be their toughest yet:
“It’s going to be harder than anything we have ever done before. That’s the attraction I suppose, it’s a challenge that might break us.”
“We wanted a opportunity to really test ourselves and it’s a real bonus that we can do that at home here in Ireland,” he added.
The duo stopped in to Dunmore East at the start of their Waterford leg, and have further scheduled stops in Bunmahon, Ballinacourty, Dungarvan, Ardmore and Youghal during the week. On the trip so fr they’ve been accompanied by curious seals, jellyfish, boaters and other forms of marine life.
David and Magnhus are hoping to raise up to €100,000 for the two nominated charities with their efforts, and will be hosting a number of centre-piece fundraising events during the trip.
Anyone who is interested in supporting them can check out their MyCharity page via the website of Self Help Africa at www.selfhelpafrica.org, or by visiting the page directly at: http://www.mycharity.ie/event/swim360/
