Hong Kong marathon swimmer conquers tough 40km channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland

Swimmer Ryan Leung, 35, completes 40km Irish Sea crossing in about 14 hours, despite tide turning against him in later stages

Reading Time:3 minutes

Ryan Leung holds up the Hong Kong flag in Portpatrick on the west coast of Scotland after completing a gruelling 40km swim from Northern Ireland. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:30pm, 14 Jul 2024Updated: 10:35pm, 14 Jul 2024

A Hong Kong swimmer has triumphed over cold and rough seas to become the first from the city to cross a channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland, considered the most difficult leg of a gruelling series of seven open water challenges.

Speaking to the Post from Northern Ireland on Sunday, Ryan Leung Chun-hay said he was “excited” and “emotional” as he nursed his aching body a day after swimming the 40km (25 miles) across the channel in 14 hours and five minutes.

“There were so many doubts about whether it would turn out the way I wanted it,” the 35-year-old said.

Leung started in Donaghadee in Northern Ireland’s County Down at around 4.30am on Saturday, local time. He said the first four hours were among the toughest, as the water’s temperatures dipped as low as 11 degrees Celsius (51.8 Fahrenheit) and he realised that most of the hydration flasks he had rented from the organisers contained cold water rather than hot.

“At the fourth hour I was thinking if this is going to be the situation I don’t know how I’d survive,” he said. “It was so scary.”

To push through, he tried to “enjoy the moment” and looked for a way to break the journey down into smaller steps, he explained. Eventually, his team found some flasks contained hot water.