A Galway club for sea swimmers that was formed when its three founding members came up with the idea ten years ago will next week celebrate a decade of activity.

The Atlantic Masters Swimming Club has since grown to be one of the largest open water swimming clubs in the country, boasting 100 members now.

On Saturday, November 16, the clubs will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in the Ardilaun Hotel in Taylor’s Hill in the city, with John Mulligan from Galway Bay FM as MC. Tickets are on sale at www.atlanticmasters.ie

The top open water swimmers and organisers from around the country will also be in attendance on the night and everyone is welcome to attend.

The club was founded in 2014 by Mark Dwyer, Helen Colfer and Fergal Madden who met by chance in the 20m Club Vitae pool in Oranmore during a swimming training session, coached by Tony McHale.

The first AGM of the Club was held on October 15, 2014, and the club was affiliated with Swim Ireland.  The name Atlantic Masters was picked as the Atlantic Ocean was their playground.

The club’s first committee was: Chairman, Fergal Madden; Secretary, Helen Colfer; Treasurer, Mark Dwyer; PRO, Joe Kennelly; Head Coach, Tony McHale; and Officers, Hugh O’Neill, Shane Devoy, Mike Flannelly and Niall O’Shaughnessy.

10 years on, the club has grown from three to 100 members and is one of the largest open water swimming clubs in the country.

During the summer months most of the swimming is done in the sea around Galway Bay — from Kinvara to Rinville in Oranmore to Salthill. During the winter months the club trains in the Kingfisher swimming pool in Renmore with four weekly coached pool sessions, while some hardy swimmers will continue to swim throughout the winter months in the sea.

Atlantic Masters SC members have swam in nearly every swim event in the country and some have gone on to conquer the bigger channel swims such as the English Channel, North Channel, Catalina Channel, 20 Bridges Manhattan Swim, Fastnet Lighthouse to Baltimore, Jersey to France, Carlingford Lough, Lough Gill and more.

On the night of the 10th anniversary celebration, these individual and club achievements as well as many other accolades will be remembered with a Hall of Fame Awards presentation.

In 2019, the club received the Swim Ireland Club Mark, was awarded the Swim Ireland Connacht Club of the Year and was runner up for overall Club of the Year award.

Safety in the water has always been paramount, in 2022 the club purchased a safety RIB to provide cover at swim events and also have been prominent in upskilling its members by providing training in powerboat handling, marine radio, coaching, kayaking etc.

Atlantic Masters SC have always been to the forefront in giving back to the local community, and to date 140 members, both solo and relay, have successfully participated in swimming the 13Km Frances Thornton Galway Bay Swim, raising a whopping €150,000 for Cancer Care West.

The club has raised in excess of €50,000 in the last six years through the Atlantic Lifeboat Swim for the Galway Lifeboat RNLI Station and Oranmore Maree Coastal Search Unit.

The club has also raised funds for the Northwest Hospice, Breast Cancer Research, Threshold, Down Syndrome Galway, Voices for Down Syndrome Galway, Irish Heart Foundation etc.

In the past 10 years, many friendships have been made through the club, encouraging people to achieve their swimming goals from getting to the first buoy in Blackrock and back, to swimming Galway Bay with some going on to swimming the English Channel.

As open water swimming is one of the fastest growing sports in the country with its many health and mental benefits not to mention social benefits, Atlantic Masters SC can look forward to a very successful future.

Pictured: The Atlantic Masters’ Annual Atlantic Lifeboat Swim in Rinville, Oranmore.