Co Down teenager aims to become youngest ever to complete Irish Triple Crown challenge – The Irish News

A Newry teenager is aiming to become the youngest person to complete the Irish Triple Crown swimming challenge.

A-level student Daniel Smyth, 17, has already become the youngest solo swimmer to cross the North Channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland.

He also completed the Galway Bay swim earlier this month and now has his sights set on the Fastnet race in Co Cork to complete the Irish Triple Crown.

Daniel hopes to become the youngest person to take on the challenge, as well as completing all three stages in the shortest amount of time.

He admitted that his focus on swimming only began to help his performance in water polo, but he soon developed a taste for long-distance swimming.

He was part of the youngest team of people to swim the North Channel, around 35km, from Donaghadee, in Co Down, to Portpatrick, Scotland, last September, and became the youngest person to complete the swim in July, in a time of 12 hours and 26 minutes.

He completed the 10.5km swim in Galway Bay on August 30 in a time of two hours and 31 minutes, and hopes to complete the Fastnet, a 20.5km swim from Fastnet Rock and Baltimore Pier in Co Cork, this month.

With the Newry pool currently closed, the training demands for the Abbey Grammar School pupil include having to travel early in the morning to pools in Banbridge, Dundalk and Craigavon, all before his school day.

His mother Elena said Daniel still manages to balance the demands of school and achieved straight As and three Bs in his AS Levels earlier this summer.

While many swimmers struggle with jellyfish stings, Daniel said he managed to escape them during his solo swim, describing the currents as a more difficult challenge.

He said that as he approached Scotland he had to fight a current for three hours.

“I was swimming well with a bit of wind behind me at the start, but then we hit the currents with about six hours to go. At four miles, Scotland doesn’t seem that far away, it was right there, but I knew I would get through it eventually, even if it took a bit longer than I would have liked,” he said.

“There were two Scotsmen camping on the beach when I landed. They greeted me and asked if I had come from Portpatrick, because I had landed a few miles away. So I said, ‘No, I came from Ireland.’”

Daniel paid tribute to his coach Keith Garry, himself a North Channel veteran, for his support and ensuring he was well prepared.

He said he celebrated the swim with a burger and a milkshake and was happy to receive a video from Olympic swimming gold medalist Daniel Wiffen congratulating him.

“So I’m focused on the Triple Crown at the moment, and my A-level exams, which are also very important, I’m told,” he said.

“Then the university and I will see what other challenges arise.

“If I see something that looks really cool, I’ll probably try it.”

Ms Smyth said he loved the challenge of the North Channel as part of the relay team and decided he wanted to try it himself.

“He had been in those waters before, so although it was a different experience, it was still familiar territory,” she said.

“People come from all over the world to do this race and I can imagine the shock they felt, but having done the relay last September he knew what to expect and he loved it.

“Although it all started with water polo, he just loved it and seemed to have a special talent for it, he loved being in the water, even when the conditions were difficult, he loved it even more.

“Neither the cold nor the jellyfish discouraged him.”

She paid tribute to the maturity he had in dealing with a challenge that many try to face later in life.

“He is a very sociable person and it is a very solitary sport, solo swimming, but he seems to have the mentality to do it.

“He always leaves us perplexed as to how he keeps going,” she added.