October 2009

THE Camlough Record Breakers have pulled it off.

On Wednesday at 12.45pm under the fierce glare of BBC and UTV cameras Paul McCann rounded the last buoy to add 750 metres to the 480 kilometres already in the bank, break the Guinness World Record for Long Distance Swimming and set off frenzied celebrations around the lakeside.
It was the climax of the seven days of continuous swimming, seven days of meticulous organisation and almost a month of painstaking preparations.

And on Saturday the task was completed. The original target was 500 kilometres but the Camlough Record Breakers exceeded all expectations by totting up the incredible total of 685.5 kilometres (426.5 miles). The relay took 232 hours 52 minutes and 30 seconds to complete.



The incredible venture ended on Saturday at 11am with Donna Cooke competing the final leg.
After she finished her last lap, main organisers Aoiffe McCourt-Lynch and Padraig Mallon joined a group of children from the Newry Swimming Club who had trained in the lake all summer. It was a fitting end to a remarkable collective marathon swimming effort.

The swimmers took most of the glory but their input paled into insignificance compared to the massive effort of the organisers and indeed most of the people from the Camlough area.

Those enthusiastic spectators thronged the lakeside night and day to cheer on the swimmers, they worked as timekeepers, they sat by the calm waters of the lake and recorded everything that happened so the world record could be verified by Guinness.



Then there were the boatmen and canoeists, Dessie Murphy, Willie Smith, Raymie Thompson, Gerry McAnuff, Gerry Boyle, Dessie McMahon, Ciaran Burns and Dessie McParland.

There were also people who helped prepare food and drink, not to mention a host of businesses especially the firm of O’Hanlon and Farrell who supplied equipment and had men working at the lake for long spells.

Hundreds of people contributed to the record but some went far and away above the call of duty. Chief organisers Aoiffe McCourt and Padraig Mallon slogged their guts out to mastermind this marvellous achievement.

But there were many, many others. Paul McCann, who swam the glory leg, did most of the behind-thescenes manual graft around the lake, toiled for perhaps 16 hours a day as did Myles McCourt.

For two weeks before the event Mylo was in the lake more often than the fishes, working on the course and accessing swimmers. His days began at 6am and continued well into the evening darkness.



Catherine Murphy (alias St Catherine of Camlough) who, as well as handling a lot of the paperwork, spoke to Him above to ensure fine weather for the event.

According to the BBC’s Gordon Adair the longest spell of dry weather this year was 29 hours. Catherine got nine straight days without a drop of the wet stuff. Truly amazing. She blotted her copybook a little however, with about an hour of rain on Saturday morning - but we’ll forgive her this time.

Others who deserve huge plaudits for their unstinting efforts include Patricia McParland Aaron McCourt, Marie and Hugh Murphy, Mark and Helen McElroy and Lord of the Lake, Marty McCone.

From a swimming prospective the Newry Triathlon Club were always prominent as were the Newry and Mourne Swimming Club and Drogheda Swimming Club.

Also Camlough was graced by the legendry Billy Wallace, President of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association, and English Channel conqueror Maureen McCoy who swam in the cold of the night without a wetsuit.



Speaking to the massive crowd at Saturday’s finish to the swim Billy said: “The organisation of the event was fantastic, indeed nothing short of miraculous. It was truly amazing and all the more incredible as the whole thing was put together in just three weeks.”

Each and every swimmer did well, with some amazing times clocked up. Top Irish triathlete and Portadown lad Conor Murphy (not the Minister of Regional Development) claimed the 3000-metre course record on Thursday with a blistering 42.26, a minute faster than the second placed Sean Mallon.

Newry’s only English Channel swimmer Peter Legge started the race and was there to greet record breakers Myles McCourt and Paul McCann.

The atmosphere and craic around the lake for the past two weeks has been absolutely brilliant. It has given the village of Camlough a tremendous boost. The celebrations, centred around Quinn’s Pub in the village, lasted long into Saturday night and well into Sunday morning. And the Guinness World Record achievement will surely go down in south Armagh folklore.

But there was a cautionary quote from Antoinette McCourt, wife of Mylo and mother to Aoiffe. The good lady was really chuffed as the world record was broken and so proud of her family.