Carrick women to swim English Channel
Courageous women from Carrick-on-Suir are to swim the English Channel this summer, as part of a special relay team.
Calling themselves the 'Stiletto Swimmers', the team of six women is already in strict training to complete the challenging relay channel swim in August, in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.
The swim is from Dover in England to Calais in France, a straight-line journey of 35 kilometres, but depending on tides and other natural elements working against the swimmers, it will most likely be closer to 45 kilometres.
The team is made up of strong swimmers from Carrick-on-Suir, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, and Hugginstown, Co. Kilkenny.
Team members Clare Morrissey, Grainne Burke and Maria Barry are training at the Sean Kelly Swimming and Sports Centre in Carrick-on-Suir, where all three are staff members and Clare is manager.
They will be joined by Maeve Moran and Colette Enright, training at the Clonea Leisure Centre, Dungarvan, and Maura Murphy, who trains at the Silversprings Leisure Centre in Cork.
Eilis Burns, Ireland's top English Channel swim coach, has been training the team since September and strict guidelines by the Channel Swimming and Piloting must be followed.
Each woman will swim an hour in relay form before being replaced by the next swimmer and so on until Calais is reached. Altogether, the swim should take about 16 hours.
A tough challenge awaits the Stiletto Swimmers but they will be well prepared after eleven months of training. The training consists of five sessions every week in the pool and one session at weekends in the sea in wetsuits until April. From April onwards, training will be mainly in the sea but without wetsuits, as these are not allowed in the Channel swim.
Kilkieran Cottage Restaurant will host a fundraising evening for the team on Sunday, March 14 at 6pm where, for €50, people can enjoy a seven-course tasting menu meal with wine.
Anyone interested in obtaining tickets can telephone Marie Barry at (087) 2234910, Grainne Burke at (085) 2703576 or Clare Morrissey at (086) 8323378.
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Weather for Clonmel
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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