I started ocean swimming in 2011. I couldn’t run anymore (little did I know at that stage this was because of MS) so my best mate threw me his old wetsuit and said there is an Ocean Swim series down at Kohimarama beach every Thursday.
I entered the smallest distance, which was 500m, I mean I could swim like any other kiwi but not distance swim. Well, what an eye opener that was as I ended up like a drowned rat after 500m but I made it.
Being the stubborn person that I am I decided to conquer this ocean swimming gig. I went to the pool, got one of my top swimmers at the school I teach at, to help with improving my technique. Slowly I knocked off the 500m at the ocean swim series, then the 1000m, then the 1500m and finally was comfortable swimming the 2000m distance and so my addiction began.
I had to change my whole mindset on what swimming meant to me. It has taken me a few years, but now swimming is about my mental health, swimming with friends and not about what time I achieved or how far I swam.
I knew of the Mastering Mountains Charity (for those with Multiple Sclerosis and Functional Neurological Disorders) formed and chaired by Nick Allen. I thought this would be the perfect avenue to get my love of swimming out there, so I applied for the Grant with my mission to swim the Rangitoto to St Heliers swim of 4.6km, you have to have a challenge that is in the outdoors to be accepted.
July 2023, I was lucky enough to be accepted and was granted money for a gym membership, a new wetsuit and Neuro physio sessions to help me achieve this goal.
The Rangitoto to St Heliers swim was in November 2023, So my mission began, swimming in the ocean through the winter, which I have done for a number of years. However, that winter in 2023, I had two attacks on my nervous system in the cold water which scared me. Cold affects me not the heat, so I went to the pool to continue training. The gym was a revelation which I am now 100% addicted to.
I started attending Les Mills Body pump around three to four times a week. I was extremely nervous due to my left leg weakness and lack of ability to do lunges properly, but this soon passed as when looking around everyone else was, and they didn’t have MS!
I was on track for the November Rangitoto swim. Then with seven days to go before the swim I tested positive for COVID! And it hit me hard. I couldn’t believe it, all that training. I sat in my room and cried. My fifteen-year-old daughter came in and hugged me and gave me her favourite soft toy to cheer me up, which I keep on my bed.
It was time to refocus. I came up with a new plan. The plan was to swim three of the Ocean Swim Series races. The first being Bean Rock Lighthouse 3.2km in February 2024, the second to swim the Harbour Crossing 3.2km in March 2024 and the final swim, Swim the Mount 2.8km at Easter in 2024.
I managed to complete the first of my three ocean swims, the iconic Bean Rock lighthouse swim. I knew I had done enough training so that wasn’t the issue, the issue these days is how long my legs can last. I start now at the rear of the field so I don’t get caught up in all the hype and can swim at my own pace. Once round the lighthouse, I could feel the energy drain out of my legs and I knew this would be a problem when getting out of the water to walk up the beach and through the finish line. Sure enough, once I hit the beach it was a struggle to stand, other swimmers came running past me whilst all I was doing was trying to keep my balance. I slowly walked up the finish shoot holding the rail and completed the first of my swims.
Once my body came back to some sort of normality, I was super proud of what I had achieved.
The second swim which was the Harbour Crossing 3.2km in March. I headed back to the gym, religiously attending body pump and was swimming in the ocean as much as I possibly could.
Until the fateful night my daughter asked me to show her how to do a proper press up, sweet…no worries. So away I went proudly showing her how to do press ups correctly when suddenly, my left shoulder blew out, you must be kidding me!
So off to the physio I went and was diagnosed with a rotor cuff strain, luckily not a tear…. however recovery would be a slow process so this was the end my swim season and I would now have to come up with another plan!
When chatting to the other mastering mountain recipients they said go back to plan A, swim Rangitoto at the end of 2024, perfect plan and Nick (chairman of the trust) was stoked with this idea.
Great I have the whole of Autumn to train, until come March when I was on my knees at the back of a trailer and behind me I had a large table resting on its edge that I couldn’t see. I was at my Aunties house in the Manawatu, and if anyone knows the Manawatu you know what happened next! The wind caught the table and without me seeing it landed on the back of my foot fracturing my metatarsal in two places. Really! Come on, enough is enough… so seven weeks in a moon boot and very little ability to exercise.
This really did take a toll on me as exercise is my key to mental health, especially when living with this disease.
Eventually, I was allowed to get back to exercise after getting the all-clear that my broken foot was healing nicely. I was determined to get back to full fitness (well, full fitness while living with MS), ready for the first of my three swims for Mastering Mountains, which was the Auckland Harbour crossing.
I started back at the gym, and boy, did that first session hurt! My muscles hadn’t been used for a while. I also got back into the ocean. Slowly but surely, my fitness and strength were coming back. I was swimming in the ocean three times a week and going to the gym four times a week. I’m not very good at giving my body a rest, but I was determined not to let anything get in my way of finishing what I had started for Mastering Mountains.
As the months went on, the Harbour Crossing Swim was getting closer. I was in full health and ready for the challenge. I knew I had to swim this race smart, as my energy levels are not what they used to be, and if I swam at my old pace I would fatigue and not make the 3.2-kilometre crossing. So, I asked my friend Clare if we could swim together. Her pace is slightly slower than mine, so I was hoping this would keep my fatigue at bay.
Just to top things off, I was only a couple of weeks away from my six-monthly infusion, so I was experiencing some symptoms that appear before this, one of which is shooting nerve pain. I tried to put this to the back of my mind.
It was an early start to the day for the Harbour Crossing. We were on the ferry to Bayswater Marina at 6:40 am. Once at the starting area, my swim group, the Kohi Kippers, which Clare and I are part of, met up and listened to the race briefing. I wasn’t nervous about the race or the conditions, as I have been ocean swimming for a long time and completed many races. I was nervous about my energy levels depleting and not f inishing. One thing I never do is not finish what I start.
Clare and I were in the third wave. As the hooter went off, there were hundreds of swimmers at varying speeds all vying for positional dominance. Clare and I were determined to stay together. As we got into our rhythm, we were comfortably on our way out of Bayswater Marina and on the way to cross the Harbour to finish at Wynyard Quarter. Swimmers were trying to swim between us, but we always closed that gap to not allow them through, so they wouldn’t separate us, and we could keep a good steady pace.
As we entered the harbour channel, the current, which we were swimming across, was incredibly strong, so we had to work hard to stay in line with the ten buoys that we had to navigate to cross the harbour. I felt no fatigue and strong for the whole swim. However, I knew I would have difficulty, no matter how I felt from the swim, walking up the jetty to the finish line.
After 1hour and 23 minutes in the ocean, the finish line was in sight. Clare helped me out of the water, and together we finished. My friends from the Kohi Kippers were there in full force to celebrate our achievement. It was an emotional time. I had conquered my first challenge for Mastering Mountains. There are two more swim challenges for me, the next one being Swim the Bays up in Russell at the end of November.
Until then, here is a quote to all the MS warriors from C.S. Lewis:
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
During this time the 2024/25 swim races came out and I decided to register for the Harbour Crossing in October and the Paihia to Russell swim in November 2024. I will finish off with the Rangitoto swim in February 2025.
Wishing Duncan good luck for his next swims!
In 2017 Michael explored options for HSCT! Not long after he was flying to Singapore with his parents for stem cell treatment.
Unfortunately, John Tooman's life was cut tragically short on his way to volunteering. John had planned to leave a lasting legacy in memory of his mother, who had MS.
