The North (Irish) Channel is renowned for being the toughest channel swim in the world – cold, rough, filled with jellyfish and fraught with unpredictable weather. But it was also site of the most tenacious efforts of one Irish women who was voted the 2010 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year.

Anne Marie Ward‘s story, her inspiration, her challenges are quite something to hear – and she will tell her heart-warming story at the 2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference in New York City.

Her humble nature, her unlikely story, her incredible fortitude, her long journey will be on display as one of the members of the most exclusive marathon swimming clubs in the world – the 11 members of the North (Irish) Channel club.

Listen to her explain not only her 18 hour 59 minute effort in the toughest channel in the world, but also her long journey on her fourth attempt to success, a swim that courageously ended in darkness at 3:35 am.

With both the English Channel and North Channel under her belt, Anne Marie completely reversed her previously unhealthful lifestyle to become one of the world’s most accomplished cold-water channel swimmers. Starting humbly and simply with a 2-mile charity swim, Anne Marie was deservedly recognized by her peers and honored for reaching the pinnacle of her sport.

Kieran Fitzgerald recalls, “What a lot of people don’t know about is about her first attempt in August where she swam for four hours in darkness in horrendous jellyfish conditions. She was swung with over two hundred stings and had to be hospitalized.”

To jump back into the sea with that experience in mind takes a tremendously focused and dedicated athlete.

“My twenties and early thirties were spent focusing on my education and career. I work as a Disability Services Manager with the HSE and, although I love my job, I realized about five years ago that I didn’t have a very healthy work life balance and that my own health was suffering as a result. I decided it was time to get my act together and do a bit of exercise, of course swimming was the natural choice.”

Listen to the rest of her story as the 2010 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year at the 2011 Global Open Water Swimming Conference in New York City this June.

Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source