The unfathomable. The unprecedented. The unexpected. The unbelievable.

That is what Ger Kennedy and his teammates will do next month.

Kennedy, as is typical, revels in the cold, the winter, and the ice.

Next month, he is organizing a two-team relay competition across the 33.5 km English Channel, called the Winter Relay of the English Channel. Five hardened men will race against an equally stoic team of five women in the coldest English Channel crossing in history, bar none.

The 10 adventurers will be ready to go anytime during their weather window between January 8th and January 25th. Each athlete will swim 1-hour legs in the expected 8°C – 9°C water under the auspices of the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation.

The men’s team consists of Kenney, John Myatt, Stève Stievenart, Vincent Donegan and Lee Johnson. The women’s team includes Debbie Haze, Nicola Doran, Nichola Murch, Marion Joffle, and Michelle Lane. They all have and ice swimming pedigree and have all been gearing up for this challenge for months.

Kennedy led a cold water training camp in November in the Faroe Islands, located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Norway and Iceland, 320 km north-northwest of mainland Scotland.  He reported, “Faroe is such a beautiful place and warm welcome from the Faroese swimmers. We were the first skin swimmers ever to visit the island so locals were astounded we were swimming for up to 1 hour in 9°C water. They trusted us and welcomed us into the clubhouse and homes to chat. With weather changing every hour, we were lucky to get some cave swims and fjord swimming in with water temperature ranging from 8-9°C and air 3-10°C.”

For more information, follow Ger Kennedy on socials (here and here).

© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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