A Galway man has become only the eighth Irish person – and the first person from Connacht – to complete the Triple Crown in Open Water Swimming when he swam across the 20.5 mile Catalina Channel in California recently.

Fergal Madden from Derrydonnell, who is the current Chairman of Atlantic Masters Swimming Club, swam the English Channel in 2019, a swim of 21 miles; and then completed the Manhattan 20-Bridge swim in June, which is a 28.5 miles around Manhattan Island.

He completed the feat in the early hours of Friday August 26 when, after an eight-hour swim in complete darkness in the middle of the night, he became just the 274th person in the world to swim all three bodies of water.

Madden, who was a founder member of the Atlantic Masters Swimming Club, which was set up in 2014 which now boasts more than 80 members, entered the water on Thursday August 25 at 10.42pm Pacific Standard Time – 6.42am on Friday August 26 Irish time – after a two-hour boat trip out to Doctor’s Cove on Catalina Island. For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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