THREE DONEGAL COMPETITORS were part of the 37 swimmers who braved the icy waters at Wild Water Armagh for the Ireland Ice Swimming Association’s National 1km Championships.
Paddy Bond (pictured above) from Letterkenny and Ballyshannon’s Sarah Meehan and Anne Morrow are part of the Donegal Surf Lifesaving Club and ticked Armagh on their calendars in preparation for the National Championships in Limerick.
Last September, Bond, an electrician from Booragh, Ramelton, won silver at the European Life Saving Championships in Alicante, Spain with Seamus O’Neill in the Rope Throw Event.
The Lifesaving World Championships and meetings – Rescue 2016 – will be held from September 1-18 in Eindhoven and Noordwijk, Netherlands.
“That’s the target for the year,” Bond told Donegal Sport Hub. “I got a silver in the Europeans last year and this year the Worlds are in Holland. I just saw the Armagh event on Facebook and we decided to give it a go as it tied in with the preparations.”
On Saturday in Armagh, with a water temperate of 3.5 Celsius and an air temperate of 2 Celsius, was the assignment.
“It wasn’t that cold,” Bond, a senior coach at Swilly Seals in Letterkenny, added of the weekend’s fare, where snow was falling. “I was training in Gartan recently and it was very, very cold.”
Bond swam his kilometre in a time of 17 minutes and 37 seconds, which was enough for fifth in his age category, over 30. In the 100m event, 36-year-old Bond was second in a time of 1.20.78.
Meehan finished in 19:09 for second in her age category and Morrow was home with 22:26.
Bond’s father, Paddy Snr, competed in the 50m and got 1:23:40. Mark McCallum was eighth in the 100m in 2:07:41.
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