Well, 2022 was quite a year!  Our members achieved some amazing things this year.

Whether swimming 500 meters, 2km or many kilometers, just making through the water and achieving their goals was a fantastic achievement.

 

Lifeboat Swim

Many members took part in the Lifeboat Swim to aid the RNLI

Galway Bay Swim

Swimming across Galway Bay is a huge achievement for anyone.  This year, we had huge number of folks complete the swim on the organized day, a virtual bay or maybe even their own swim on another day.   Here are a few of our members who completed this amazing achievement either on their own or together with others:

  • Paul Rigney
  • Alan Mooney
  • Barry Doyle
  • Grainne Kelly
  • Peter Cunningham
  • Marion Fahey
  • Brenda Rabbitte
  • Helena Quirke
  • Denise McAlister
  • Jody Dinoghue
  • Laura O’Shea
  • Eoin Mooney
  • Majella Scanlon
  • Lorna Farren

Lynches Pier Swim

Over one hundred swimmers took part in our club swim in Kinvara on a beautiful day.

We made sure to have a “Tri a Swim,” which was a great challenge for some of the swimmers and very happy.

Club Tuesday Evening Swims

We continued our usual Tuesday swim series at several locations.  This year we swam at 8 different locations in the Galway area with about 15-25 swimmers at each swim.

Coached Practices and Learning

To help us all learn, we not only had many members take part in the usual cold-season coached practice sessions but started offering swim analysis sessions organized for our members.  This was a very popular offering that we look forward to continuing.

The club also benefited from our Coach Brian’s knowledge through some postings here as well as video sessions to discuss various questions about practicing swimming, drills and training.

And it wasn’t all work.  We also made a trip to Limerick to swim in the 50m pool there and have some fun as a group.

Other Swims

These are in no particular order, but also some achievements by your fellow swimmers this year.

Carlingford (Hit the Wall)

A few folks went to Co Louth to swim in the Hit-the-Wall series.  But, I wonder if it was yet another excuse to travel for fun.

Link

Catalina and Manhattan and Lough Gill?

Fergal Madden really wanted to go on holiday this year.  Not only did he make his way to Manhattan to swim around the island there but he also went to California to swim to Catalina

In doing so, he completed something many have not, the Triple Crown

And that wasn’t enough, so the man swam 10k in Lough Gill.  Where does this man find the energy?

Galway to Kinvara for a Lunch?

Our own Helen Colfer swam from Galway to Kinvara, probably just to get home after a long night out!
Seriously, she raised 1700 for the RNLI Galway Lifeboat

Heskin League

Several members took part in the weekly league in Salthill, pushing and challenging each other to see what they could achieve.

Lighthouse Ho!

David Conradie swam out to the lighthouse in the bay outside of Carlingford Lough to see the sites.

Long Course Championships

Brian and Grainne went to the champs in Limerick.  (Link)

Slynne Head

Several people swam out to Slynne Head not only as an adventure but a great challenge.

This swim raised 8000 for the Ballyconneely Charity Fund during the weekend in the various swims to help a worthy cause and enjoy the challenge of a 10km swim.

 

Volunteers

And, none of this could have been done without the help of all of the volunteers that make any event or achievement possible.  Thank you all for your help!