A MARATHON swimmer has become the first person to swim around the entirety of Cork city.
Ned Denison has completed 49 marathon swims to date, including water ways around Manhattan, False Bay, Rottnest and the Catalina Channel.
He’s also swam the English Channel, but Cork presented a unique challenge.
"The swim was not overly long, but there were severe technical difficulties – going over five weirs and under 30 bridges – some with clearances so low that one safety kayak needed to stop and a second was positioned on the other side," Denison told BreakingNews.ie.
Swimming the 8km route, Denison took in much of the city centre as part of an evening swim around the city’s centre island that lasted two hours and 24 minutes in total.
He also completed swims around Valentia Island in Kerry and Great Island, Cobh for the first time.
"I have completed more than 25 swims in the River Lee from the city to the harbour entrance. All were enjoyable,” he added.
Speaking after the swim, Denison was full of praise for the environmental work of the government in maintaining Ireland’s waterways and making his swim possible.
"The government’s investment in main drains in the early 2000s has opened up this tremendous asset for swimming."
