Lifford man Shane McCauley set for solo swim of English Channel

In the early hours of Monday morning, Lifford native Shane McCauley will attempt to swim the English Channel.

At 3.30am, Shane will take to the water at Dover and set off on his mission to swim solo from England to France, under the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) Rules and Regulations.

Shane completed his six-hour qualifying swim in Portnoo in August.

It is a distance of at least 34 kilometres and Shane is attempting to raise money for the SynGAP Research Fund (SRF).

SYNGAP1 Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder. Two of Shane’s friends, Katrien Deckers and Daniel Frommelt, have been instrumental in setting up the UK/European arm of the fund.

You can donate to Shane's fundraiser here  and keep up to date with his progress via the live tracking here 

The English Channel  is the globally-known standard for marathon swimming and is considered by many to be the ultimate long-distance challenge - fewer people have swum the English Channel than have climbed Mount Everest.

In June 2018, Shane and two other members of Ful-On Tri triathlon club, in Fulham, London, swam the Channel - in a time of 10 hours 30 minutes.

They covered a total distance of 46.5 km, and raised money for The Brompton Fountain, a children’s charity and came within touching distance of being the fastest three-person relay ever to complete the gruelling swim.