Irene Keel aborts channel swim, and remains a terrific inspiration for all of us

Inspirational 73 year old Irene Keel has aborted her attempt to swim the English Channel mid-swim after the challenging sea conditions saw her swallow seawater and suffer from asthma 4.5 hours into the swim.  And we want her to know just how inspired we are that she tried!  The Grandmother was swimming from Dover in England to Cap Gris Nez in France, and will now return to Australia without attempting to cross again.

Keel was raising money for Motor Neurone Disease.

Keel’s coach reported to AAP that they tried various things to settle her asthma, but in the conditions none of it worked.

“The wind and chop that was meant to settle down didn’t and Irene swallowed a fair chunk of the ocean,” said Keel’s coach, Charmian Frend.

Sitting back here in the comfort of my chair in Australia, I find Irene Keel’s mental and physical strength inspirational and her passion awesome, and hope everyone else here does too.  I applaud her for giving a challenge such as this a go, an enormous achievement for anyone at any age.

Well done Irene…

“It’s not the will to win that matters, it’s the will to prepare to win that makes the difference”  Paul Bryant