November 09, 2021
Three swimmers will be inducted into the Ireland Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame at the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association Awards in Galway on November 27, 2021.
John Earls from Limerick, Rachel Doyle from Dublin and Rob Bohane from Cork are set to join an illustrious list of honour swimmers and contributors.
Already inducted into the Hall of Fame are:
- Carol Cashell
- Ray Cossum
- Rachael Lee
- Fionnuala Walsh
- Pádraig Mallon
- Jacqueline McClelland
- Donal Buckley
For more information see: Ireland Swim History – Irish Long Distance Swimming Association (ildsa.info)
John Earls
1963 swam Lower Lough Derg (Mountshannon to Killaloe) 10 miles in 6hrs and 30 mins.
1964 swam BLDSA Torbay 12.9 km with 5 International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) Honorees – beat 1.
1966 at age 24 swam in the prestigious Windermere International Championship 16.9 km with 4 IMSHOF Honorees.
1968 swam Galway Bay from Blackhead to Silver Strand - west of Salthill. He was either the 3rd or 4th swimmer known to have completed the swim (reported to be the 1st amateur) and he swam it in 5hrs and 57mins - 1 hours 2 minutes faster that Jack McClelland.
1968 swam the ILDSA race across Dublin Bay from Red Rock Howth to West Pier Dun Laoghaire in 4hrs and 40mins.
1969 swam the BLDSA Windermere race 16.9 km with 4 IMSHOF Honorees.
1969 the first to swim the 16 km from Cork to Cobh in 4hrs and 45mins.
Rachel Doyle
• Across Lake Geneva 14km in August 2017
• North Channel (after an unsuccessful attempt in 2015) on July 31, 2016, in 13hrs and 4mins
• English Channel on August 7-8th 2012 in 16hrs and 11mins
• Dun Laoghaire to Bray Head return 28 km in August 2014
• Lough Erne 17 km in 2011 and 10 km in 2010
• Galway Bay 13 km in July 2013 in 3hrs and 1min
• Malta to Gozo return 11 km in August 2019
• Camlough 10 km in 2010 and 2011 plus Lough Dan 10km in 2010.
Rachel also completed an ice mile in Amstel, The Netherlands in 2018, in 27:21 minutes and competed in the World Ice Championships (1 km) in January 2017 in Burghausen, Germany.
Rob Bohane
Rob Bohane from Cork served as Crew Chief on many marathon swims:
• Around Valentia Island (27 km) 2008 first time accomplished - Ireland Marathon Hall of Fame Honouree Ned Denison
• Around Bere Island (24 km) 2013 only time accomplished - Ireland Marathon Hall of Fame Honouree Carol Cashell
• English Channel solo 2016 – Bernard Lynch
• English Channel solo 2017 - Carol Cashell
• English Channel solo 2019 - Jim Shalloo (first two trips to Dover he did not swim – Robert was on the second > Jim completed on the 3rd trip)
Robert is also an accomplished marathon solo swimmer himself and a valued administrator as well.
