Maeve‘s Story
Hi! My name is Maeve Mulcahy and I live in Cork, Ireland. I am an open water swimmer. My connection to Bowen is through my sister, Kate Coffey, who lives on the island and I also had the pleasure of meeting the amazing Mary Letson, Founder and Chair, in June 2018 when visiting my son who lives in Vancouver and my sister, Kate. I swim in Myrtleville Co. Cork with the Myrtleville Swimmers - an incredible bunch of sea swimmers who swim all year around in Myrtleville which is at the entrance of Cork Harbour.
Challenges are a part of everyday life. They make us stronger and, without them, life becomes somewhat meaningless because we have nothing to compare the good times to. Challenges come in many forms. For me my challenge was overcoming neck surgery which resulted in me being out of the water for almost two years. Getting back to swimming was so important to me throughout my surgery, recovery and rehab.
I was eventually given the go ahead to go back to swimming and I hit the pool in February of this year - it had been a year and 10 months since I had last been swimming. I fully expected that I would swim a few hundred metres, shake the cobwebs loose and I would be back - just like that. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I quickly realised that my bounce back was definitely going to be a slow process and patience was key. I decided to use this fresh start as an opportunity to build good habits into my swimming from day one - quality not quantity. Those first few weeks were very trying. I wondered if I would ever swim as fast as I once did, would I ever get back the confidence and mental toughness I had before, would I ever get my feel for the water back? I began tracking my progress and got a huge boost from hitting the small goals I set myself. So, just as I felt I was getting somewhere, Covid 19 hit Ireland resulting in us going into complete lockdown on 12th March. We are currently in Phase 1 of the lifting of restrictions (there are 5 phases in total). It will be Phase 2 in mid June before I will be permitted to travel to the sea for a swim. It will be like starting all over again but, at least, I know what I need to do this time around. So, my personal challenge isn’t by any means monumental. It is simply to get back in the sea in a couple of weeks and begin to build my swimming endurance and distance and, of course, because it is the Atlantic Ocean, my acclimatization to cold water also! Our Winter sea temps are around 39 deg F rising to a toasty 57 deg F in the Summer - we’re made of tough stuff here in Cork!
Fingers crossed I will be in a position to take part in SwimBowen 2021 - I absolutely cannot wait for that opportunity! I am in awe of the incredible amount of money raised and gifted to Bowen Island Residents at a time in their lives when they most need a lift up. Keep up the good work - you are doing an incredible job!
Maeve
