Ayrshire's Andrew Donaldson sets world record for Oceans 7 challenge
Andrew Donaldson from West Kilbride has become the first person in history to complete the Oceans 7 challenge in a year.
Ayrshire man, Andrew Donaldson has set a new world record after he became the first person in history to complete the ocean’s seven challenge in the space of a year.
Hailing from West Kilbride, but now living in Australia, Donaldson has raised around $50,000 for mental health research charity Black Dog over the course of one year.
He set off on August 7th, 2022, when he swam the English Channel in 8 hours flat setting a new British record.
He then went on to swim the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, the Cook Strait in New Zealand which he set a world record time for, the Molokai Channel in Hawaii where he was hospitalised after, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
In July 2023 Andrew swam the 32km Catalina challenge in Los Angeles, and finally the Tsugaru Strait in Japan through treacherous conditions and strong currents, becoming the only person to do it this year.
Andrew completed the Oceans Seven in 355 days, smashing the previous record held by Lynton Mortenson of Australia who completed it in 2 years and 60 days. He also recorded the fastest ever cumulative time of 63 hours and 2 minutes, which was previously held by Attila Manyoki of Hungary who completed it in 64 hours and 35 minutes.
Speaking to Clyde 1, Andrew said the last two swims were incredibly challenging, but having his family on the penultimate swim helped him push through to the end.
'A dream come true'
He said: “As someone who has experienced his own struggles with depression, lost friends to suicide, and my grandfather who was a major role model for me and struggled with depression, mental health has always been a cause close to my heart.
“On the final challenge on the Tsugaru strait, when it came down to the end we were going down to the wire.
“There were time limits on us and nobody has been able to swim it this year due to the strong currents that can reach up to 10kph. The Japanese coastguard will pull anyone out after 7pm and we were fast approaching that limit, but we managed to finish an hour before that.
“There was pressure to pick up the pace, but once I managed to get across and touch that final bit of rock… it was probably the best rock I’ve ever seen in my life”, Andrew laughed.
“It was amazing, and I was obviously knackered and shattered in that moment, but it was a huge sense of relief.
“To get to this stage of the journey a year on from when I hadn’t even begun, it just felt very surreal and to do this and support and important cause like mental health was just a dream come true.”