'The community propelled me to the finish'

At 5.34am last Saturday, John McGee began swimming at the Lucky Shell Beach in Ards.

Sixteen hours and sixteen minutes later, after 233km of a gruelling swim, cycle and run around Donegal, he stopped the watch in his native Creeslough.

The Ironday challenge was to raise money for three organisations who helped during and after the Creeslough explosion in November: Critical - The Emergency Medical Response Charity - Donegal Mountain Rescue Team and Search And Rescue Dogs Association.

The challenge took in a 3.4km swim from Ards to Downings, a 187km cycle to Errigal car park at Dunlewey and ended with a 42.2km run, beginning with an ascent up Errigal, crossing the Seven Sisters chain.

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“The wind got me before the heat,” he says. “It was calm, really calm in the morning and the swim went as good as could be. I transitioned to the bike within five or six minutes and was away again.

“The first time I stopped was at the lights at McClay's Corner in Stranorlar – and that was after 90km.”

His support team kept the nourishment flowing through the bike ride.

As he passed through Fintown, he could feel the road surfacing roughening and the bike vibrating. Across the Gweebara, the flags were high and as he came into Dungloe, the flag was full mast across the road.

“I was just thinking to myself: 'That's the direction that I'm going in',” he says. “From Dungloe around to Errigal again was tiring.

“It was about 25 degrees when I was running up Errigal. I had a good bit of water on board, but maybe I could have eaten more in the morning.”

John McGee begins his Ironday challenge

Having initially planned to use the streams and lakes for refuelling, he reconsidered upon noticing an algae bloom.

“Once I got to Muckish to get water and food, I got a second wind,” he says.

He was accompanied for the duration by Norman McLean with Patrick Durning joining for the Seven Sisters run and Cormac Hall adding to the pack for Muckish.

John says: “It all aligned and there was a great crowd when we came back into Creeslough again. It was more than just family and friends; it was amazing. I was glad to get around the whole lot. Training a couple of weeks ago, I went over on the ankle, but I got around it with no issues.

“There are always one or two things that could change things. For example, if the swim had been on Monday, it couldn't have happened because of the sea fog – something as simple as that could have a big impact on a challenge.”

John is indebted to the many people who aided his challenge: “Although the challenge was a solo endeavour, it was the community that propelled me to the finish.”

It was getting dark at 9.50pm on Saturday when John pushed the button on his watch again.

But they know all about darkens in these parts. John's pursuits were in aid of three organisations who were to the fore last October.

“The rawness is still there,” he says. “There are still first milestones happening, first birthdays since the explosion and so on. People talk about moving on, but for those families and those people it's not just as easy as that.”