Laois woman Joan Fennelly has completed the final leg of a swimming relay which saw herself and four other women cross the English from England to France.
Joan Fennelly, aged 53 and originally from Mountmellick, is a sales and marketing manager for Oracle. She has been swimming in the River Thames for years. One of eight children, Joan grew up swimming in the River Owenass at the so-called Four Banks.
Living in Britain for nearly two decades, she was part of the Henley Mermaids, which swam the Channel in just under 20 hours. They had hoped to get into the water in early June but finally took the plunge on July 21.
With no sleep for 40 hours, the group describe it as "the toughest challenge, both wonderful, emotional, harrowing & horrific".
The swim was done to raise money for the Henley Music School local music school which gives subsidised lessons to children.
The other members of the team are Laura Reineke, Susan Barry, Jo Robb and Fiona Print.
It was some achievement for Joan who went for her first proper swimming lessons to get fit for her 50th birthday. Within no time she took on the longest river marathon in the UK when she swam the 14km Thames Marathon in August 2018 as part of a personal ongoing 100km fundraiser for the charity Kidasha.
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Anyone who wants to donate can go to the team's Gofundme page