Tag Archives: Pat Conway

PAT Conway completed the Lahinch to Liscannor Swim on Sunday for the 50th and final time. While he will continue to be involved in its organisation and in fundraising, it will be the last time Pat will be in the water for the annual swim which he founded as a teenager and kept running for decades. Well what a day!Congrats Pat on your 50th swim, an emotional day.Such a fantastic afternoon with a record number of swimmers participating this year.Thank you Pat for all you've done.Such an incredible achievement 💛🌻🐳📷Liamgranty#patconwayswim#burrenchernobylproject pic.twitter.com/PtZj4d6VU2 — Burren Chernobyl BCP (@BcpBurren) August 7, 2022 “There was a massive crowd and we had 120 swimmers. I think the sponsorship will be in the region of €25,000 so it was a great day,” said Pat this week. Large crowds were present in Liscannor as Pat came in and a presentation was made to him to mark the milestone. “I was presented with a lovely plaque, which I …

AS a 17-year-old boy Pat Conway was behind the first Lahinch to Liscannor swim in 1972, and he will complete it for the 50th and last time, on August 7.  While different charities benefited from the swim in its early years, for a long time now all of the proceeds have been going to the Burren Chernobyl Project. That will be the case again this year, and while Pat won’t be directly taking part after 2022, he plans for the event to continue and his favoured charity to continue to benefit. In the summer of 1972 Pat was a teenage lifeguard in Lahinch, and was one of a small group that organised the first swim, but he could hardly have thought it’d still be going 50 years on. “It’s something we started as a fun challenge, going from the lifeguard box over to Liscannor. Then we said we might as well do it for charity. It kind of built from …

THE man who has led a fundraising swim that has raised tens of thousands of euros for local charities is set to hang up his goggles. This August, Lahinch native Pat Conway will lead the 50th annual fundraising Lahinch to Liscannor Swim and after that will call it a day. Pat started this swim way back in 1972 and has organised, fundraised and swam it for the past 49 years. This year’s crossing, taking place on August 7, will be his 50th swim and final year swimming across the bay. Pat is a well known member of the local community and fondly known by friends and family as The Whale acknowledging his love of the water and swimming accomplishments going back decades. Pat started the Liscannor Swim as a fundraiser for the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital. From here, his efforts (and stamina) increased and he started training to swim the English Channel. His training consisted of swimming over and back …

THE 49th annual Liscannor Bay Swim will take place this Sunday, August 1 at 1:30pm, in aid of the Burren Chernobyl Project, writes Conor Clohessy. Event organiser, Pat Conway, raised over €10,000 for the cause in 2020 and hopes that he can continue to oversee the swim until next year, when he can pass the tradition on to his family members. Liscannor Bay Swim originally took place in aid of a local boy who required special therapy in Budapest for a rare medical condition, and has supported various charities over the years; for the majority of those, funds have been sent to the Burren Chernobyl Project. The Burren Chernobyl Project was established by Brother Liam O’Meara in 1993 to aid the child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion, helping families through the social, medical and economic ramifications of the disaster. “I have great admiration for Brother Liam and for what he does out there. The swim is only a …

A North Clare special needs child is the first in the county to receive an assistance dog from a new national charity. Karen Murtagh, who lives in Ennistymon, has described the arrival of Rocco, a nine-month-old black Labradoodle as a “godsend” for her son, Stephen (10), who has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stephen is one of the lucky children who are benefiting from 48 service dogs provided by My Canine Companion, which trains dogs to assist children and young adults living with ASD. It is the only charity that will give an assistance dog to a child over 10 years of age, as other organisations like to pair an animal with a younger child. Each dog costs the charity over €10,000 to train and Karen will have to raise half of this figure over the coming years. Businesses in Lahinch, where she was born on Main Street, are already rallying around this worthy cause. The 19th Bar in Lahinch has …