Shane completes solo Channel swim

By Laura McGonagle

Armed with just Speedos, a hat and a pair of goggles, Lifford man Shane McCauley took on the epic challenge of swimming the English Channel solo in the early hours of Monday morning.

He set off from Dover at 3.30am and 11 hours and 42 minutes later he completed his mission reaching land on the French coast.

Shane was raising money for the SynGAP Research Fund (SRF), a charity that is close to his heart. In February 2020, his close friends Katrien Deckers and Daniel Frommelt’s five year old son, Bear, was diagnosed with SYNGAP1 Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that leads to many neurological issues.

Yesterday Shane was still recovering after the herculean task. He described the swim as “horrific” and praised his boat crew, friends and wife Karen for their support and encouragement to see it through.

It was August 2020 when Shane booked the boat and was given a window of between October 1 and October 8 to complete the swim depending on weather conditions and tides.

On Sunday night he got the go ahead and made the hour and forty minute journey from his home in London to Dover.

Shane completed the swim under the Channel Swimming Association (CSA) Rules and Regulations which meant he had to remain in the water at all times even when eating.

“The whole experience was horrendous because I got such a chill at the start and I couldn’t shake it off,” said Shane.

“Now as I reflect on it there were some very good light moments and banter. I had a really good boat crew. I set a feeding schedule because you are not allowed out of the water. You are not allowed to touch the boat, you have to be fed basically on a fishing line.

“The feeds must be quick. They encourage you not to stop for more than 30 seconds. One of my feeds took a minute and I lost five minutes. I had been pushed back by the current.”

Two hours into the journey doubts began to creep into Shane’s mind and he found solace in words of encouragement from his wife Karen, who is from Stranorlar and best friend Neil. Shane and Neil both started out in Strabane’s Riversdale Otters Amateur Swimming Club when they were just eight years old. The interest in swimming stemmed from there and Shane swam internationally for a number of years and is also involved in triathlons in London.

The 43-year-old knows first hand what it takes to swim the Channel and in 2018 Shane and two other members of Ful-On Tri triathlon club in Fulham swam the distance in a time of 10 hours 30 minutes.

It is not just the distance that is the challenge for swimmers but more the variable conditions in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with 600 tankers, 200 ferries and other vessels passing through daily.

As he approached the French coast Shane remembered there is an east-west drift that drags the swimmer away from Calais so it was crucial that he pushed through during the last forty minutes to reach land.

“I couldn’t believe I had done it because I had so much self doubt the whole way through,” he said.

“Afterwards I couldn’t stand up and fell, I had no control over my legs. My body wouldn’t work. I was so cold and so broken.

“Three or four of the crew had to physically dress me and then I got into the cockpit to the boat and passed out.”

After the two hour boat trip back to Dover, Shane began to come around and called his parents Danny and Dymphna McCauley back in Lifford to let them know how he got on.

It is a tradition that successful Channel swimmers sign their name on the wall of Dover’s White Horse Pub and this is just what Shane did when he got back to dry land.

“It is only today that it is really starting to sink in, what I have achieved and what I have done,” he said.

“Looking at the fundraising page now and seeing I have gone over the £5,000 mark is absolutely phenomenal.”

During those tough moments in the water Shane got inspiration to keep going by thinking of a video sent to him the night before of Katrien and Daniel’s son Bear diving into a pool and swimming for the first time.

“This was a huge physical feat for someone with SynGAP. Bear walks unaided but it requires an awful lot of effort for him to walk so to see him diving in and swimming. In some of the darker moments, I had that image in my head.

“That was his Channel swim. I thought to myself if he can do that there is no way I am not doing this.”

Shane lives and works in London as Group Head of Internal Audit for an insurance broker. He said he tries to get back to Donegal as much as he can with his two children to visit the extended family.

“I’m still a country boy. There will always be a draw back to Ireland at some point. When the timing is right Ireland will call me home I’m sure,” he said.

An online fundraising page ‘Shane’s English Channel Swim’ has been set up on the website JustGiving.com where donations can still be made to raise money for SynGAP Research Fund (SRF), a global group of families committed to accelerating the science to cure SYNGAP1 Syndrome.