Carol completes unique swimming feat

Mayo woman Carol Commons made history last week when she became the first person from Connacht to swim the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland.

Carol, a native of Killala and a member of Kilcummin Swimming Club, has now completed the triple crown of open water swimming having previously taken on the Galway Bay Swim and Fastnet Swim.

She set her sights on completing the trifecta of the most challenging Irish open water swims and set off from Bangor Pier in Co Down last weekend for 52.5 kilometres of swimming. Eighteen hours, 58 minutes and 28 seconds later, she emerged successful from the waters and set foot on Scottish land.

Carol told the Western People about the incredible effort this swim took. Backed by her boat crew, Carol plunged into the waters and got to work.

“I was very nervous about starting by swimming through the night and for the first few hours, the goal was to swim into daylight and then after that to swim into the sunshine,” she said.

It was a huge challenge and the enormity of the task, if it was not already obvious, quickly became crystal clear.

“I was expecting the sunshine to heat up my body but it didn’t and I had a very negative five hours where I wanted to give up,” she said.

“The crew kept me going. They told me that I was not getting back on the boat. Then when things got very negative, Sean, my swimming buddy, got in with me. Support swimmers are allowed in for an hour at a time every two hours and that helped.” 

Carol said this next hour was a ‘turning point’.

“I just felt like I was back in Kilcummin again with him. He got out after his hour, which was around hour 14 of the swim.

“He was warned not to communicate with me. I told him I needed to go to hospital. He told me, ‘There is loads of hospitals in Scotland.’ So I knew he was serious, and the crew was serious about not letting me back on the boat and that I had to keep going.” 

Mentally, this had a huge uplifting effect on Carol and her crew.

“When I swim, I’m known for letting out a big ‘wahoo’ when things are going well. So when the crew heard me shout wahoo! They knew I was going to do it.

“Everyone’s spirit was lifted. I shouted ‘up Lacken’ at one point. I was almost afraid to say up Mayo, I didn’t want to bring the curse with me!” 

The shoreline came into view but Carol and elite swimmers know that you can still fail with the finish line in sight.

“About 3km out, I was stuck in a sort of current and wasn’t moving. If I didn’t get out of that, I could’ve been pushed out for another two hours. “Luckily, Mother Nature released me from that, which they reckon most elite swimmers wouldn’t make it out of, and once I did, there was never a sense I wouldn’t get there. I’m still pinching myself that this happened.” 

A celebration was held in Kilcummin last Friday night as the local community came out to congratulate Carol on this historic achievement.

“It was brilliant that everyone came out and I’m really shocked with all the love and support from the community. To see local children carrying signs was the highlight for me,” said Carol.

“I want to thank everyone for their love and support, the whole community and whole country cheering me on. I had an amazing skipper and an amazing crew. 

“This was the biggest swim you could do, so I think I’ll enjoy it for a while.”