Alison Cardwell Receives Ted Keenan Shield

Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Alison Cardwell received the 2013 Irish Long Distance Swimming Association‘s Ted Keenan Shield for Ulster Open Water Swimmer of the Year at the ILDSA Awards ceremony this past weekend.

At the 2013 ILDSA Awards, Cardwell was awarded the newly commissioned piece made by Seamus Loughran from Newry and Mourne District Council Mayor Michael Ruane and Tony and Brian Keenan, sons of the late Ted Keenan.

The trophy Brian and Tony are holding represents Keenan’s achievements in a unique Triple Crown of marathon swimming. The three waves signifying each of his channel swims. On August 13th 1972, Keenan swam the English Channel in 18 hours 11 minutes. He followed this swim with a North Channel crossing on August 11th 1973 in 18 hours 27 minutes, and finished up with a Bristol Channel crossing on July 17th 1975 in 14 hours 26 minutes.

Cardwell’s achievements in 2013 were well-deserving of this award. She completed an Ice Mile at Camlough Lake in 1ºC (33.8ºF) water, was the fourth female in the Warrior of the Sea 6k swim, and completed the Rostrevor to Warrenpoint swim 3.5 km, the Clogherhead Swim, and the Drogheda 2.5 km swim. She was the second Irish female in the ILDSA 25 km Lough Erne swim and completed the Lord and Lady Swim (Camlough Lake Water Festival) in 43 minutes 19 seconds and was the fourth female in the Great Wicklow Swim 10 km.

Copyright © 2008 – 2014 by World Open Water Swimming Association