Owen O’Keefe Inducted In Hall of Fame – Marathon Swimming Ireland

Courtesy of Ned Denison, Hall of Fame – Marathon Swimming Ireland.

Owen O’Keefe was among a number of Irish luminaries to be voted into the Hall of Fame – Marathon Swimming Ireland in its Class of 2020.

Gunn joined Conor Gunn, Colm O’Neill, Fergal Somerville, Frances Thornton Memorial Galway Bay Swim, and Imelda Lynch in the Hall of Fame – Marathon Swimming Ireland.

The newest members joined the Class of 2019 (Anne-Marie Ward, Grainne Gunn, Ion Lazarenco Tiron, Ned Denison, Stephen Millar, Sandycove Island Swimmers) and Class of 2018 (Chris Bryan, Lisa Cummins, Kieran Fitzgerald, Jack McClelland, Deirdre Ward, Eilís Burns, Martin Cullen, Brian Meharg, and Quinton Nelson).

O’Keefe was the youngest Irish swimmer at the age of 16 to successfully cross the English Channel (in 10 hours 19 minutes). He pioneered several swims and remains the only swimmer to have completed the following solo swims:

* 26 km from Cork City to Myrtleville
* 16 km around Sherkin Island
* 11.3 km to Tory Island
* 60 km from Fermoy to Youghal in 2013 in 12 hours 8 minutes

He completed a crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar in 3 hours 52 minutes at the age of 17. He also set the Round Jersey Solo record for the fastest circumnavigation swim by a male in 9 hours 35 minutes.

For more information, visit the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association website here.

The formal induction ceremony to honor O’Keefe will be held on February 29th 2020 in Kinsale, Co. Cork in conjunction with the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association Awards (register here).

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