Category Archives: Events

Help wanted for new swimmers evening – May 31st at 6.45pm

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May 31st, 6.45 pm: Weather permitting, Eilis Burns will be bringing a group of new open water swimmers to Myrtleville on Tuesday, May 31st at 18:45.

Any of the regular Myrtleville swimmers who can be around that evening to give any help would be appreciated. We need strong swimmers used to the sea to join the group for the swim and watch out for anyone who needs some support.  Also, any kayakers or SUPs available would be very welcome.

Please come down if you can. Remember what your own first swim was like and help out.

Some of the new swimmers on another evening – 2014.

RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay 2022 – entries open

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Entries are now open for the RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay Swim on June 16th, 2022 at 19.00.  Please note – if you’re new to swimming, do make sure you have sufficient training done before you consider entering for this swim 🙂

RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay 2022 Entries

RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay Swim 2022

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Early notice to get some training done 🙂

The 2022 RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay 2km open water sea swim will take place on Thursday, June 16, 2022 at 7.00 pm. 

Entries will open in March and will close at 14.00 on Tuesday, June 14th, 2022.

If for safety reasons June 16th has to be postponed, the back-up date is Friday, July 1st, 2022 at 7.00 pm.  If this date can not proceed, all entry fees will be donated to the RNLI.  

Myrtleville Minkies North Channel Swim

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Congratulations to the Minkies, who completed their North Channel relay on Friday, July 2nd. Start point was Donaghadee (about 15k south of Bangor). It was a four-person team – Marie Watson, Brenda Sisk, Ann Smyth and Fiona Coleman. Ann finished the swim in Scotland after 19 hours 33 mins.

Darren Morrissey was on the boat with them and gave us this short summary of a huge achievement:

I was on the boat with the girls for their NC swim on Friday. They played an absolute blinder. Unbelievable from the four of them. They did themselves proud. They only wore Myrtleville hats all day. They had about 24 hours notice to get to Bangor for the swim start. No accommodation booked and everything to do. Pre-swim fuel was wine and chips 😂. They were all immense. They found the strength to finish a grueling day with a smile on their faces and broke into Scotland.

A fantastic achievement! Well done to all involved. By the way, it’s unclear if Ann cursed on reaching Scotland (one of the “Thank F@#K for that” variety), but I’d bet she did.

RNLI swim – cancelled / moved / changed

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The RNLI swim to Church Bay won’t go ahead on July 8th.  For any swim this year, it’s more than likely that we would have 200+ people on the beach, so that means waiting until after July 20th, at least, to run any event. 

As previously notified, we aren’t going to have a timed event this year.  We have now also decided to try to tie in a swim event with the arrival of the new buoys (supposedly mid-July, based on latest updates from the supplier).  That means (shock/horror), we won’t be having an event that goes from Myrtleville to Church Bay.  Instead, we will have a more relaxed lap-of-the-buoys event.  We will probably have a bucket for donations to the RNLI, but will not have pre-event entries.

Anyone who has entered through Nifty Entries for July 8 will receive an email in the coming week or so about their options on the entry fee paid.

We will probably schedule the event at a week’s notice, once the buoys are in and the weather is favourable.

For the swim to Church Bay – tune in next year 🙂

Pat and Antoinette finished – in the pre-Covid days.

RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay 2020

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We don’t have certainty about whether our planned event on July 8th will be allowed to go ahead, or if we – more likely – will have to defer to later in the year.  However, we do still plan to run it at the earliest possible opportunity – note the positivity 🙂  – and have decided we’re going to do so as a non-timed swim.  That will allow us more flexibility in organising and not hold our timing partners to a date, when we can’t guarantee it will run.

Whenever restrictions are lifted and it’s safe to do so, we aim to organise the swim this year as more of a “welcome back” for all of us deprived of our time in the sea, rather than a race.  For now, please stay safe and observe the health guidance.

2020 RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay Swim

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Grand stretch in the evenings, so it’s time to start planning for the big event.

The 2020 RNLI Myrtleville to Church Bay 2km open water sea swim will take place on Wednesday July 8th, 2020 at 7.00 pm. Mark your diaries!

Entries will open in March and will close at 14.00 on Tuesday, July 7th, 2020.