Two years in the planning ... five months of training ... 12 hours and 32 minutes of exhaustion ... then victory
British expat is greeted by well wishers after toiling through the night to complete epic feat to raise money for the underprivileged – now for that beer
Nobody in the city deserves a pint on Saturday night more than Simon Holliday, the 39-year-old expat who completed a solo circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island on Saturday afternoon.
“On many occasions, I visualised an ice cold glass with gold nectar inside,” said Holliday, who successfully swam the 45km circumference of the island in 12 hours and 32 minutes. His feat came more than 40 years since Australian Olympian Linda McGill became the first swimmer ever to swim around the island. She achieved the milestone back in 1976 in 17 hours.
Holliday’s emphatic feat of endurance came to a conclusion at Sai Wan Swimming Shed at 3.32pm, where he was swarmed by loved ones and members of his Splash foundation – a charity providing swimming lessons for the city’s under-resourced community. Splash surpassed its target of raising HK$1 million in the lead up to the swim.
“I looked up and all these people were finding space to cheer me on,” said Holliday, who explained the swim took a total of two years of planning and receiving government permission. “I really feel this swim has been a team effort.
