Swimmers set new record for Mull of Kintyre to Co Antrim challenge

One of the most challenging swims between Northern Ireland and Scotland has been conquered with a new record.

A five-person team, accompanied by pods of dolphins, swam the Dal Riata Channel from the Mull of Kintyre to Co Antrim in seven hours and 30 minutes.

While the traditionally popular North Channel swim from Donaghadee in Co Down to Portpatrick in Scotland has seen 30 successful crossings already this summer, there are fewer attempts of the more northerly route.

The first successful swim of the Dal Riata Channel was in 2012 by South African Wayne Soutter, who completed it in 12 hours, 11 minutes.

The most recent was completed last Friday by Andrea Judge-Guy, 47, from Portadown, Steven Grimley, 45, from Newry, Paula Newell, 47, from Newtownards, Paul Quinn, 48, from Camlough, and Joseph Salisbury, 16, from Camlough.

Paula Newell takes to the water during the record-breaking swim of the Dal Riata Channel (PA)

The group met at Cushendall, and went by boat with Infinity Channel Swimming to the Mull of Kintyre where they started the swim at 1.24pm, battling currents and encountering curious wildlife.

Ms Judge-Guy said they had not set out to break the record, but simply to challenge themselves, and “for the craic”.

“We knew it was going to be a tough enough swim and just wanted to go for it,” she said.

“At times it was tough, at times we had beautiful water. Every one of us had dolphins – it was amazing but it was scary, there were pods and pods of them swimming beneath.

“I couldn’t really see the adult dolphins because they were on the surface, hopping out of the water, but the babies were further down, there were maybe six to eight underneath, at times nearly belly to belly with me and I had to pause at points, but then put my head down and went again.

“When Steven started off, he had a big seal having a nosy and swam under him. There were also lots of jellyfish, but they weren’t the lion’s mane, they were moon jellyfish, quite beautiful and don’t give you a sting.

It's a tricky swim with the currents - you have currents coming from Iceland. It's the shortest route from Scotland to Ireland but it can be a really tricky one with the currents

Record-breaking swimmer Andrea Judge-Guy

“It’s a tricky swim with the currents – you have currents coming from Iceland. It’s the shortest route from Scotland to Ireland but it can be a really tricky one with the currents.

“It’s supposed to be 20km, but, with the currents, you always do more. We ended up doing 30km, and a solo swimmer out the same day ended up swimming 39km. It just depends on what current you get.

“There were five in our team and we each swam our rotations. The rotations depend on the swimmer.

“Steven had a really rough first hour but a really fast first hour so he gave us a good push swimming 5.1km. Others could swim 3km, others can face a slack tide or against a tide and swim 700m, it just depends where you are in the tide.

“You plan where your swimmers on based on the tide, so the stronger swimmers in with a fast current to make the most of them.

“A relay is great, you feel part of a team and it’s good to do it with your friends.”

Ms Judge-Guy, who has previously completed relay swims of the North Channel, the English Channel and Lough Neagh, said it was one of the most beautiful she has done.

She said she had previously swum when she was a teenager but gave it up until her early 40s, when her brother Chris set up the Lough Neagh Monster Dunkers swimming group.

“We all decided to go down and support Chris. On the way back I said ‘No, that’s not for me, I hated it’ – but I was back the next week, back the week after that,” she said.

“I had my first open water swim, Rock Around The Point in Warrenpoint in 2018 with Infinity, and I never looked back.”

The Dal Riata Channel swim was watched by an observer, and the record is to be ratified by the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association.