Long-distance swimmer John has some unfinished business!

By Jackie Keogh Saturday September 15th, 2007 for the Southern Star

John Kearney of Baltimore, who was forced to abandon his attempt to swim the English Channel last week after over 14 hours in the water, but he plans another attempt this time next year.
John Kearney says he has some unfinished business …

Shortly after 4am on Wednesday, September 5 last, John dived into the sea at Shakespeare Beach in Dover, ready to embark on a forty-kilometre swim to France. He was determined to reach the other side, but four and a half hours later he became aware of an unusually sharp pain in his right shoulder, which continued for the next ten hours before the cross-channel swim was cut short. “I was gutted when the skipper of the support boat decided to call it off. I was determined to keep going, because I was confident I could do it. The independent observer from the Channel Swimming Federation was happy for me to continue, and so were my crew, but the skipper didn’t believe I would make it because I had missed the tide.

“He was right about the tide. I was at that stage being carried further up the channel towards the Belgium coast, but I knew – the pain in my shoulder non-withstanding – that I had the stamina to continue until the tide turned once again in my favour.

“It would have meant another seven hours in the water – a true marathon, considering that the shortest crossing ever was seven hours – but I was determined to land in France. I was doing an hourly check on myself: I would check to see if I was dehydrated, cold, hungry or in too much pain, but I was satisfied that none of the above applied.

“Having never swum more than six hours before, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt” – even the independent observer from the Channel Swimming Federation said he’d never met anyone so cheerful and uncomplaining".

IN DARK John didn’t wear a watch, but could calculate the time by the number of hourly feeds. Describing the first leg of the journey, John said, “I decided to start while it was still dark, so I would have the psychological advantage of arriving in France in daylight.

“I was used to the dark because I had so many early morning starts in Lough Ine and I felt good starting off because the air temperature was cold, but the water was warm and inviting.”

For the first two hours, John said his thoughts were with another swimmer, Alan, from South Africa who had started out twenty minutes before him. “To tell you the truth,” he said, “I was wondering if I would catch up with him, or be able to keep pace with him so we could meet together at the other side.”

Instead of thinking about France, or other imponderables, all the time, John said, “You spend your time thinking about your feeds. It’s a way of breaking down the swim into manageable units. On the hour, every hour, for the first four hours, John said he would consume hot Ribena and honey, warm apple juice, or an approved lemon power drink and a banana, or watery soup. The number of feeds were stepped up to every forty-five minutes for the remaining time, but were limited to thirty and sixty second stops while John treaded water.

John said he believes the injury happened when he picked up his pace four hours into the swim. He said he cannot account for the injury, other than it was a type of muscle strain which reduced the range of his normal swimming pattern. The injury caused him to rely more on his left arm and ultimately led to an imbalance in his stroke. That meant he was losing time and it was only at the six-hour mark that he and his support crew noticed that his pace was after slowing down. John informed the crew about his shoulder difficulty but said he was keen to continue at a slightly slower pace.

“Even though I was injured, I was happy to go on because,” he joked, “I knew that as long as there was enough food to get us to France we’d be alright.” John said it was “a great feeling to get to the halfway mark”. He described it as like being halfway across a busy road because instead of looking out for large cargo vessels travelling from left to right, he was now looking out for tankers travelling from right to left.

The next ‘highlight’ for John was when he unceremoniously returned his feed bottle to the boat by sending it whistling through the air in the direction of his support crew, J.J. Cotter and Robbie Green, who made the mistake of serving him cold soup for his tenth hour feed. He said: “The look of surprise on their face kept me chuckling for a while.”

At the fourteen-hour mark, John said he told his support crew to prepare his night goggles and light stick for his next feed because it was now around 7pm and it would be dark by 8pm. “I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but the skipper asked J.J. and Robbie to ask me to stop. They, and the independent observer, were of the opinion that I was able to continue, but the skipper was insisting on calling a halt. His crew told the skipper that if he wanted to call it off he would have to talk to John himself, which he duly did, only to be met with disbelief.

“We started to have a disagreement,” said John, “I was clear about what I needed to do to get in, but I believe the timescale was an issue for him.” The disagreement ended the second time with the skipper walking away and John swimming away towards the French coast, but when the boat did not follow, John realised he would have to accept the skipper’s decision as final no matter how much it rankled. John described the atmosphere on the boat journey back to Dover as being “extremely tense,” but the pain in his shoulder kept him distracted.

The disappointment about what happened didn’t last long. The following morning, John said, “I felt happy about my performance and I was confident that I would be easily able to cross the channel given the right circumstances.”

NEXT YEAR After talking to his wife, Vivienne, John booked another support boat for September 2008, but this time he will be joined by five more members of the West Cork Triathlon Club – an organisation he helped to establish. John said, “This is a challenge I don’t want to walk away from. I now know I am well able to do it. As far as I am concerned, it is unfinished business.

While John did not reach France, he is still determined to help raise ?10,000 for the five local charities – Marymount Hospice, CoAction, Rathmore National School, Baltimore RNLI and the Skibbereen Youth Café Project. On Saturday, September 15 next, John and his crew, including Anna Moynihan, will be hosting a fund-raising evening in the Oldcourt Inn from eight until late. Everyone is welcome to attend.