Loch Ness Swimming Challenge July 2022 （Hong Kong） - 香港接力泳隊挑戰橫渡蘇格蘭尼斯湖

Last chance to donate!
最後捐款機會！

(Donation in HK $ dollars 所有捐款以港幣為機制）

English link : https://www.commchest.org/en/donation/online/event/53

中文網址： https://www.commchest.org/zh_hk/donation/online/event/53

很多謝各位一直的支持，我和Eliza 為公益金籌款。雖然我回港並不長時間，但見證着香港很多朋友和打工仔受疫情影響，尤其是餐飲業和運輸業。我們這一次成功橫渡尼斯湖固然開心，但亦希望作為第一隊香港人接力隊，能夠為香港出一分力，令弱勢社群獲得關注。

這次籌得的善款會受惠公益金的及時雨基金。這個基金是為香港各行各業受疫情影響而導致失業、減薪及開工不足而面對經濟困難的人士，提供即時經濟支援。這次籌得的善款全數撥捐公益金及時雨基金，而且並不會扣除行政開支，確保善款能夠到達有需要人士的手上。

- Ryan Leung

Thank you for your support! Eliza and I are calling for donations for The Community Chest Pandemic Rainbow Fund. Although it hasn’t been a long time since I came back to Hong Kong, I have witnessed how the pandemic has affected my friends and fellow Hong Kongers, especially those in the F&B and transportation industry. It is an acheivement for us to swim across Loch Ness successfully. But as the first Hong Kong relay team, we would also like to contribute and give back to the Hong Kong community.

The funds raised will be allocation in full to support The Community Chest Pandemic Rainbow Fund. The Fund provides immediate financial assistance to individuals and families in Hong Kong affected by the pandemic, especially the unemployed and underemployed.

- Ryan Leung
————————————————————————
香港公益金成立於 1968 年，是一間非政府、非牟利、財政資源獨立及管理自主的機構。每年透過 舉辦不同的籌款活動，將巿民踴躍捐輸的善款，不扣除任何行政開支，全數撥捐逾 160 間會員機 構，支援六大範籌的社福服務: 兒童及青年服務、安老服務、家庭及兒童福利服務、醫療及保健服 務、復康及善導服務以及社區發展，惠澤超過 250 萬名有需要人士。公益金的行政費用得到慈善夥 伴 ─ 香港賽馬會的補助，以及由穩健基金投資收益支付，這獨特的運作模式令公益金成功履行作 為捐款者信託人的承諾。欲了解更多，請瀏覽 www.commchest.org 或 Facebook 專頁 。

The Community Chest of Hong Kong was established in 1968 as an independent, non-governmental and non- profit organisation. Each year, the Chest organises a variety of fundraising events for over 160 member agencies to support social services in six key areas for over 2.5 million beneficiaries in Hong Kong: children & youth, elderly, family & child welfare, medical & health, rehabilitation & aftercare, and community development. Uniquely among its peers, the Chest’s administration expenses are defrayed by a subsidised grant from its partner-in-charity, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, in addition to income from prudent fund investments. This allows the Chest to allocate 100% of funds raised to charitable use and to fulfil its promise as trustee of the donors. To learn more, visit www.commchest.org or on Facebook.

Landed ❣️at 16:44 on 27th July 2022
Mission accomplished 💪💪💪💪
37 km in 11 hr 29 mins 27 seconds
Fort Augustus to Lochend
Air temp 8-17 Celsius. Overcast, occasional sunny
Water temp 13-15 Celsius
Nessie didn’t show up, but these 4 swimmers are monsters from Hong Kong 🇭🇰

We would like to thank Erica Lai and Victor Ng for their support and help during the entire swim.

We would like to thank Kevin Murphy and Kathy Batts to serve as our official observers for this swim.

多謝大家集氣
爆 seed 最後一千五
辣媽豆豆好勁，游得好快呀！

We would like to thank Erica Lai and Victor Ng for their support and help during the entire swim.

We would like to thank Kevin Murphy and Kathy Batts to serve as our official observers for this swim.

Here’s what happened in the last round of our Loch Ness swim

By: Angela 豆豆

2 days before the swim, we realized breaking the previous fastest 4 person relay record of 11 hr 38 mins is doable, but our goal is just to complete a skin swim (no wet suit) in the cold loch.

At 1/2 way point, we were in good position in terms of time. By calculation, me being on the 4th leg may not even need to do a third round.

Started on 3rd rounds, Mak, Ryan and Eliza all gave their strongest push, but the gap to break the record was getting narrower. At hr 10.5, half way during Eliza’s swim, Kathy pulled me aside and said “ you guys are very close on the record, in order to break it, you need to be in full force as soon as you jump in the water”. At that moment, I realized the burden to break record has landed on a 52 years old mom who has not been competing in 30 years, and who just re-started training barely 6 months ago. I knew the time is reachable if I do my best but open water is so unpredictable. My most experienced teammate CK showed me one more time of the landing spot from his phone map and said to me “ok, u got 1.5 km and you need to swim faster than 38 mins. Pretend that you didn’t do any of the previous 2 rounds (I swam over 6000m already). Pretend that this 1500m is your only race today. “
At that moment, I remembered the talk from the legendary Kevin Murphy, King of the Channel who swam the English Channel 34 times !! We were so honored to have him and Kathy Batts as our observers for this swim. Kevin said “the success of a swim is 50% in your mind”. So there, heeding to his advice and using CK’s imagination, I jumped into the water at hour 11.
I sprint and I sprint. Knowing this is a 1500m and not 100m, I focused on my breathing and kept my shoulders loose. But my route kept swaying to the right, which will take me into the channel next to the beach with lots of big boats going in and out. I deviated so much to the right that our boat actually has to switch from my left side to the right so to block me from swimming into the channel. Then the boat has to stopped about 200 m from the beach due to the depth of the lake.
I am now on my own, no es**rt boat. Let me tell you a secret, I’m near sighted. I lost all my luggage on the first day and I did not have contact lenses with me. I cannot wear glasses with the goggles on, but my prescription goggles were also in the lost luggage and all my swim gears other than the swimsuit were scrambled from my teammates. With the regular goggles and in the water, all I see is a big patch of yellow (the beach) and I was told just swim straight into it. So I swam and swam, yet the beach was SO NEAR YET SO FAR, like it can never be reached. Finally, I saw some rocks on the bottom. I swam as close to the shore as possible, then has to get out of water, be it a crawl or a roll, according to the rules, the swim will be considered complete when the swimmer is completely on shore, without touching any water.
So there, as I entered on a rocky part of the shore other than the beach, and the moss covered rocks were slippery and extremely difficult to walk on, I crawl and fell and crawl and finally, stand on the shore. Raising my arms, I signaled to the boat and there, we completed our marvelous Loch Ness swim.
Later on, Kevin told me that my stroke rate was 76 per minute in the beginning, and still at 62 in the end.
And guess how much I paid for the swimsuit ? UK6 pound only from Primark 😄(A famous discount store in Europe). It’s the only one of this style on the rack, and the size is just right. The rest are all 2 pieces/bikinis 👙. It would be a funny sight to have a frozen popsicle bean (my nickname) in bikini after just mins in the icy cold Loch Ness :)

We held onto each other to make our prayers to God before the start of our swim. A touching and precious moment which we would like to share with you.

We would like to thank Erica Lai and Victor Ng for their support and help during the entire swim.

We would like to thank Kevin Murphy and Kathy Batts to serve as our official observers for this swim.

We are very curious about the condition of the place (Loch End) that Angela finally landed yesterday.

We drove to that place today to have a look and made this video clip for you.

Last 1/2 mile

Please cheer for us

Angela is in the last leg and we can see the dry land

Is this Nessie Monster?

Update from Angela

More update from Loch Ness.

Change of leg between Angela and CK.

Eliza finished her leg with a distance of 3,117m. Please give her a round of applause.