LAST SUMMER, CORKMAN Stephen Redmond became the first person in the world to complete all seven open-water swims that make up the Ocean’s Seven.
Having already swum the Irish Channel, The English Channel, The Strait of Gibraltar, The Cook Strait, The Molokai Channel and The Catalina Channel, the former rugby player headed for Japan to tackle the Tsugaru Strait at a distance of 12.5 miles.
The 47-year-old, married with two children, joked that he had a “bad knee and was going deaf.”
All of that aside, Redmond and his crew flew to Japan where he would encounter the local media before taking on the Tsugaru Channel.
A newly released documentary details the difficulties Redmond had in trying to complete his task, funded by local businesses and patrons back in West Cork, and specifically the town of Ballydehob.
(YouTube credit: eventjunkiestv)
Speaking to TheScore.ie, Redmond explained that it was not long before he was back swimming, though he did allow himself some time to recover from both the swim in Japan and the party in West Cork upon his return.
“A few weeks after coming back from Japan we did the Fastnet, and then in October we did another five or six hour swim from Baltimore for CoAction, the autism charity, so it was all go,” he said.
“The plan now is to go back into training in January, to get back in the pool and on Lough Hyne, and we’ve a number of things coming up in 2013.
“We’ve a 24-hour swim in the West Lodge hotel (in Bantry) in March, and then on the June Bank Holiday we’re doing the Shannon – it’s something quite similar to what David Walliams (the English comedian) has done on the Thames. That’ll be a seven-day affair.
“That’s all training, really, for a solo swim from England to Ireland. That’s going to be a tough one, all about speed and efficiency.”
When asked how he could keep going after conquering something as tough as the Ocean’s Seven Challenge, Redmond replied: “It’s hard to stop – especially when my friends keep coming up with these bloody ideas!
“But seriously, once you’ve done one and you’ve gone through it and come out the other side, you forget about it and you do it again. The fear of failure is something that drives you on, and the fear of regret is a bigger factor again.”
Stephen was recently nominated for the Annual WOWSA Man of the Year 2012 award. For details on how to vote for him, click here >
