Lifford man Shane McCauley swims English Channel in under 12 hours

Lifford man Shane McCauley completed a solo swim of the English Channel on Monday afternoon.

The gruelling swim is considered by many to be the ultimate long-distance challenge.

Shane set off from Dover at around 3.30am on Monday.

Eleven hours and 42 minutes later, he was back on dry land at Cap Gris-Nez near Calais in France.

The swim was completed under under the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) Rules and Regulations and was sanctioned after Shane completed a six-hour qualifying swim in Portnoo in August.

Lifford man Shane McCauley set for solo swim of English Channel

Shane McCauley sets off at 3.30am to embark on 'the ultimate long-distance challenge'

He was supported by some family and friends, who sailed alongside on the Viking Princess II, a commercial catamaran which escorts channel swimmers on a regular basis.

The big objective of his 34-kilometre swim was 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.

The English Channel  is the globally-known standard for marathon swimming and, such is the scale of the task. fewer people have swam 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.