Alcatraz Swim

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Best of luck to John Kiely, swimming in the iconic Alcatraz swim in San Francisco tomorrow afternoon about 4pm.

Got The Hat and T-Shirt - all set.

Got The Hat and T-Shirt – all set.

John won’t be doing this alone of course.  He has the complete support of Martina.  I spoke to her one morning on the beach in Lanzarote and she was very clear that John should swim in as many events as possible – as long as they were places she wanted to go.  She was 100% encouraging him to consider swims in locations like Barbados, Miami, the Maldives….She’ll be right behind him, on the sun lounger, on any of those swims 🙂

John and Martina - Alctraz here he comes.

John and Martina – Alcatraz here he comes.  Next destination?

 Good luck to the Kielys!  Enjoy the trip.

CORAL8 – a Tribute.

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The next Corkonian Channel adventure is going to be a little different since – bar Maeve Mulcahy – all of the regular tracker-stalkers are actually going to be on the boat or in the water.  CORAL8 head off – hopefully this weekend – to take a leisurely trip from England to France.  The team is made up of – deep breath – Carol Cashell, Orla Houlihan, Riana Parsons, Angela Harris, Lisa Cummins, Maeve Ryan, Donna Galvin and Eleanor Courtney.

Determined not to interrupt G&T and cake time too much, team CORAL (originally Carol, Orls, Riana, Angela and Lisa) have packed in just about everyone available and expanded to CORAL8.  This means nobody will be too incovenienced during the day out by having to actually swim much, thus missing the chat, banter and reverse tracking planned.  Just imagine the social media that day – “You – over there in Cork – we can see you’re not following us!! What’s that about??   Stop working – we have…”

Inspired by news of the massive team headed for the Channel, noted culture vultures, Kieran Murphy and Siobhan Russell, collaborated to create this wonderful tribute. Seriously, it’s some piece of artwork.  It’s such a good painting it’s almost like a photo – it’s the heads off our heroes, in fact.

Bottecelli's The Birth of Venus - as reimagined and restored by Kieranus Murphicelli

Bottecelli’s The Birth of Venus – as reimagined and restored by Kierani Murphicelli

Best of luck to the whole big, big team.  You can follow them – surprise surprise – online on Facebook by clicking here  and on Twitter @CORAL8_ .  We can expect lots of progress updates with this group!

A Flock of Seagulls

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I’m usually a big fan of Siobhan’s work, but one of her latest pics really isn’t up to standard.  This one is supposedly of A Flock of Seagulls – in fog by Roches Point.

A Flock of Seagulls? Ah, Siobhan!

A Flock of Seagulls? Ah, Siobhan!

In fairness, what’s the point of a picture of A Flock of Seagulls, if you can’t see Mike Score’s hair?  That was the main selling point.  Here’s a better one.

The Flock in their heyday. Who wouldn't have wanted Mike Score's hair?

The Flock in their heyday. Who wouldn’t have wanted Mike Score’s hair?

Here they are on TOTP in 1982.  De Berries.

Try and get more of a close-up next time, Siobhan.

Gougane Barra Results

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Very well done to all the Myrtlevillians in this year’s Gougane Barra swim.  There were tough conditions on the day and with Breda Maguire hiding in the reeds in her kayak for shelter (her words, or something like that anyway), the swimmers were doing it for themselves – sisters and brothers.

The results from Tadhg Harrington are here: Gougane Barra Swim 2016

It was a tough day to be in the water and even tougher to get the timekeepers to let you out.  Poor Shane Gannon.

Begging to be left out of the water at the swim on Saturday.

Begging to be left out of the water at the swim on Saturday.

Finally the left him out! Good man, Shane.

Finally they left him out! Good man, Shane.

Also special mention from the weekend for Brenda Sisk.  She followed up her Galway Bay Swim by going out foreign and completing the inagral, inawgural, inugaral  first ever London Dock to Dock 10km swim.  Great stuff, Brenda!

London Dock to Dock, Open water swimming, Cork, Ireland

Have flag, will travel. Brenda in London.

On to Schull next weekend, for all the swim event junkies.

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Home is the hero, home from the sea

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I don’t know if that makes Rob The Bull “the hunter home from the hill”.

Good crack up in the airport last night, as a very surprised Mr. Lynch emerged from arrivals to be greeted by a fair old crowd.  He was delayed a bit as someone asked him for his autograph!!  A rock star, I’m tellin’ ya.

He was hoping Anne had turned up to give him a lift home - not expecting this crowd.

Bernard was hoping Anne had turned up to give him a lift home – not expecting this crowd.

He was greeted by all kinds of VIPs, particularly a very proud mother!

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Of course there’s always one fella with an agenda of his own at any event.

My swim now was WAAY colder and with HUUUGE waves - WAAAAY tougher in my day. Liam Maher explaining why he was 15 minutes slower in his channel swim.

“My swim now was WAAY colder and with HUUUGE waves – it was WAAAAY tougher in my day.” Liam Maher explaining why he was a whole 12 minutes slower in his channel swim.  Marie keeps a straight face. 

Fair dues to Conor Middleton for getting signs done up quickly.  His call to the printers on Wednesday morning was – “No rush, I don’t need them until tonight”.  Grace Maher and Jenny Howell went further and made fantastic banners too.

Making good use of the Olympic sign and stage. A great turn out.

The day after in Dover

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Two hours sleep, interviewed on the KC Show and his phone hasn’t stopped going.  He’s a rock star now.  Arriving back on Ryanair flight from Stansted at 10.00 tonight.

The morning after the day and night before - Rob Bohane, Siobhan Russell, Bernard Lynch and Carol Cashell. Super crew and swimmer. Nice T-Shirts (the blue ones) too.

The morning after the day and night before – Rob Bohane, Siobhan Russell, Bernard Lynch and Carol Cashell. Super crew and swimmer. Nice T-Shirts (the blue ones) too.