Lough Key Swim Club

01/10/2026

And just like that our open water event season is over 😢 What started all the way back in Carlingford Lough in may, we continued to have plenty of representation all over the country and across the water in the england this year 🗺️

As per the last few years our last event of the season was the Gaelforce Events Great Fjord Swim in connemara where well over 800 swimmers took to the water 🌊 Conditions weren’t great to start the day, resulting in the cancellation of the boats but they did improve as the day went on an the sun made an appearance 🌞

We had 5 swimmers swimming through the Fjord this year, 4 of which were completing the 3rd and final of the Gaelforce Trilogy Swims 2026 🏊🏼‍♀️ 🏊 A new initiative this year was the DJ on the Fjord an after party for anyone that had any energy left to burn 🎉 🕺🏻 Unfortunately none of us had any energy left to burn, maybe next year 💃🏽 😉

750m
Edward McGuire 10.49 2nd Male
Kirsty Ainge 16.25 46th Female

2000m
Paula Sharkey 48.16 50th Female
Fiona Davis 48.36 51st Female

3900m
Lorcan Kirwan 1.20 21st Male

26/09/2026

There’s a reason your advised to keep your distance from the wormhole on inishmore unless you’ve some idea of the tides and even at that you can still get caught out 🌊 There’s multiple rescues there each year from people falling on slippery rocks, swimmers jumping in and not able to get back out and people been washed off the rocks, not all of them are successful rescues 🚁 🛟 The drop is a lot higher than it looks in photos/videos 📉

17/09/2026

This year we had a member flying the flag solo for us in England on 3 different occasions throughout the summer months 💪 I can recall at the time when the question was asked in the group late last year did anyone want to do any of the Chillswim this year and there wasn’t much uptake so we didn’t think anymore of it and assumed that was the end of it but nooo that was only the beginning for Caroline Brennan ✈️ ⛴️
The first one was over and done with before we even knew about it, and just as the second swim was approaching we got a sniff of it 🤪

The first swim was on June 20th Lake Coniston a 5.25 MILE which is a long swim in itself but was only a 4 hour warm up for what was to follow 🏊🏼‍♀️

The second swim was on July 11th Lake Ullswater a 7.5 MILE swim which definitely isn’t for the faint hearted either, clocked up 6 more hours in the water 🌊

The third and final swim was on September 5th Lake Windermere an 11 MILE swim from fell foot park to borrans park, over 8 hours in the water without ever getting out and your on your own in the dark deep water for the majority of that 💪

It was a huge undertaking an not forgetting all the hours/days/weeks of training that took place here at home in Lough Key, I’d say the fish were sick looking at ya Searlait MacBranain 🐠🤪

Kudos to you 🫡 The bar is set very high for next season…

17/09/2026

08/09/2026

An quick update on some of what we’ve been up to the last few weekends 🌍

August 23rd we had Sue, Una, Ed, Rachael and Mick swimming in Kinvara for the Atlantic Masters Swimming Club Galway annual swim at traught beach in excellent conditions, plenty of refreshments and sweet treats was laid on afterwards ☕️ 🍰

August 29th we had stayed on home soil, some of our members were helping out and taking part in the ever popular Lough Key Triathlon where 240 participants lined up at the start line 🏊 🚴‍♀️ 🏃🏻‍♂️ 🌲

September 5th another road trip 🚙 Mick, Una and Sue headed to limerick for the Island swim which was voted best organised open water swim in 2025 organised by the limerick narwhals an co 👏🏻 Limerick Masters Swim Club Limerick Swimming Club Limerick Triathlon Club

Kinvara 2.7k
Edward McGuire 44.35 6th male wetsuit
Rachael Martens 50.00 6th female wetsuit
Sue Wynne 52.40 7th female wetsuit
Una MacDermott 54.28 9th female wetsuit
Mick o Rourke 1.01 16th male wetsuit

Lough Key Sprint Triathlon
Cathal Doherty 1.33 3rd in age category
Therese Duignan 1.46 3rd in age category
Kevin Kerr 1.51
Bernie Carthy 2.00

Island Swim 3.8k
Sue Wynne 1.15 10th female wetsuit
Una MacDermott 1.17 12th female wetsuit
Mick o Rourke 1.31 32th male wetsuit

30/08/2026

16/08/2026

Following on from our last event in portumna it’s been all FEMALE representation since 😳💪 Helen Gormley travelled to ballina as our only representative in the River Moy Swim, after the long dry spell there wasn’t much of a flow compared to last years splash an dash, Helen was delighted as she got better value for money this year 🏊🏼‍♀️ 😂

Next up was the Gartan Open Water Swimmers Inch Mile in Rathmullan (Donegal) where we had our first ever entrants, Áine Higgins and Una MacDermott make the long journey through the “Hills of Donegal” then boarded a ferry to be taking 1 mile out in to Lough Swilly where all swimmers jump off and swim back to beach ⛴️

We stayed a little bit closer to home this weekend an headed to Glencar Lough Swim for there annual fundraising swim in a beautiful setting with mountains on both sides of the lake ⛰️ 🏊🏼‍♂️ Siobhán Keenahan, Therese Duignan and Áine Higgins flew the flag for us this year 💪

River Moy 2.5k
Helen Gormley 1.11 25th Female

Inch Mile
Una Mac Dermott 46.20 16th Female
Áine Higgins 1.04 43rd Female

Glencar 1k
Áine Higgins 27.25 16th Female

Glencar 2k
Siobhán Keenahan 41.04 4th Female
Therese Duignan 57.04 11th Female