I am from
a small part of the world known as Camlough village, Northern Ireland where I grew up as the youngest of 6 in the Mallon clan. I have loved swimming since I was wee and grew up spending my time between Camlough Lake and the local swimming pool in Newry.
My next goal is to conquer the North Channel. My slot is booked for August 2014 and I’m on track to clock up a planned 1200km in training swims!
The North Channel is a
notoriously difficult body of water between Ireland and Scotland and is
considered to be the toughest channel swim in the world, with athletes toughing
it out against *extreme elements to achieve the 35km crossing between Ireland
and Scotland (*extreme elements include: water temperatures that’ll freeze your
tits off, out of this world currents and badass stinging jellyfish!).
In case you’re
interested, I’ve had a bit of experience with open water swimming which I will
be drawing on in my attempt to achieve this massive feat.
Some of my past
achievements include:
· 1st female, 2nd
overall - Irish long distance National Championship 17km, 2007 (I broke the
record and thankfully it still holds - so I don’t have to do it again just yet!)
·
1st female, 2nd
overall - British Championships 17km Lake
Windermere, 2010
·
1st female –National
Championships 10km Lough Sheelin, 2010
·
1st female –Swim
Ireland National 10km Camlough, 2010
·
10th female -
Rottnest Channel Swim 19.7km, Perth Australia, 2013
. 1st female – South Head Roughwater Swim 10km, Sydney Australia, 2014
In addition, despite being a terribly bad runner, I have enjoyed competing in triathlon
and half ironman events in recent years and achieved a few reasonable placings -
(Canberra 70.3 Half Ironman 2011, 12th female (AG); Husky Long Course 2012 and 2014,
12th female (AG); Husky Olympic 2011 and 213, 2nd female (AG); ITU Sydney Olympics 2011 and 2012, 9th and 10th female (AG).
Back to the North Channel though… this year I’ll be attempting to sustain a high level of competition as part of my preparations for the swim and will be heading to some intense swim camps in Melbourne, Australia and Cork, Ireland. I’ll also be competing in loads of training swims, including the Irish National Championship swim in Lough Erne (17km) and Lough Sheelin (10km).
and half ironman events in recent years and achieved a few reasonable placings -
(Canberra 70.3 Half Ironman 2011, 12th female (AG); Husky Long Course 2012 and 2014,
12th female (AG); Husky Olympic 2011 and 213, 2nd female (AG); ITU Sydney Olympics 2011 and 2012, 9th and 10th female (AG).
Back to the North Channel though… this year I’ll be attempting to sustain a high level of competition as part of my preparations for the swim and will be heading to some intense swim camps in Melbourne, Australia and Cork, Ireland. I’ll also be competing in loads of training swims, including the Irish National Championship swim in Lough Erne (17km) and Lough Sheelin (10km).
I will be updating this
blog with all my adventures and training swim sagas, so feel free to sign up
for updates and stay in touch with me as I tick along until August.
I’ll sure be needing all the support and banter I can get to keep me going along the way!!!
I’ll sure be needing all the support and banter I can get to keep me going along the way!!!
