This year’s Martin Duggan Memorial Swim was held at 7:30 pm yesterday evening in the River Blackwater, Fermoy. Although the weather was pretty damp for most of the day, it cleared just before the swim and we had much nicer weather conditions than we had been expecting earlier on. The rain didn’t raise the level of the river and so swimmers were able to make good progress against the current over the first kilometre. According to the thermometer on Carol Cashell‘s watch, the water temperature was 14.3ºC. Nobody had any complaints and it was clear that everyone really enjoyed their swims. All of the 47 swimmers that started the swim finished.

Two swimmers coming around the turn buoys at the top of the course (Photograph: Lee Fox).

Irish elite triathlete Gavin Noble (Sandycove Island SC) took first place. He swam the 2 km course in a new record of 23 minutes 32.7 seconds! Fellow top athlete and a past swimmer on this course Bryan Keane (Templeogue SC) wasn’t far behind him. He finished in 23 minutes 50.1 seconds. Owen O’Keefe (Fermoy SC) was the first non-wetsuited swimmer to finish but Ned Denison (Sandycove Island SC) took the prize for that place as Owen is on the Organising Committee of the event. Sarah Early (Templeogue SC) was the first female to finish. Carol Cashell (Dolphin SC) was the fastest non-wetsuited female. She took part in yesterday’s event hardly a week after swimming around Manhattan Island, New York! Full results can be seen on the Results 2013 page. If you spot any mistakes please let us know and we’ll try to rectify them as soon as possible.

Gavin Noble accepting his prize – a €25 voucher for The Edge Sports in Cork – from Brigid Noonan and Owen O’Keefe (Photograph: George O’Keefe).

Each year, the Martin Duggan Memorial Shield is awarded to the youngest swimmer to complete the swim. It came as no great surprise that Mary Brooks (Fermoy SC) was this year’s recipient. Mary received the prize having completed the 2 km course in a very fast time of 32 minutes 39.1 seconds (with a wetsuit). Mary is the third of the Brooks siblings to have won this prize!

Mary Brooks accepting her prize – Martin Duggan Memorial Shield – from John Duggan and Owen O’Keefe (Photograph: George O’Keefe).

Many thanks are due with regard to the organising of this event. First and foremost, we’d like to thanks everyone from Fermoy Rowing Club for allowing full use of their facilities and giving us so much help on the day – we couldn’t hold the event without them. We must also thank Blackwater Sub-Aqua Club, all of our kayakers and onshore spotters, who helped provide a safe event for swimmers. A big thanks to our referee, Jim Sheehan, who kept everything running very smoothly, our timekeepers, our turn judges and our photo-finish cameraman, George O’Keefe. Thanks to “The Edge Sports”, Cork for sponsoring four €25 vouchers for their store. Finally, we’d like to thank everyone that made sandwiches, cakes and refreshments of all sorts and Noel McCarthy, “Carry Out” off-licence, Fermoy for giving us the soft drinks.

There’ll be plenty of photographs up on our Facebook page pretty soon (tomorrow or Monday). For now, thanks to everyone for coming yesterday, we’re very glad that you enjoyed it and we look forward to seeing you again next year!