Paralympian Jeremy McClure conquers 62km swim from Abrolhos Islands to Pages Beach in Geraldton

Blind Paralympian swimmer Jeremy McClure achieved what no one else has accomplished when he conquered a 62km swim from the Abrolhos Islands to Geraldton.

Worn out and suffering from a shocked nervous system, McClure arrived onto shore at Geraldton Pages Beach about 10.30am on Saturday. He had left the Pelsaert group of the Abrolhos Islands just after 10am on Friday, swimming for a total of 24 hours and 20 minutes.

The open ocean swimmer wasn’t new to the idea — earlier this year he was the first man to complete the 36km swim from Dirk Hartog Island to Denham — and has completed the Rottnest Channel swim 10 times.

But McClure said this was a challenge like no other.

“This was definitely Rottnest on steroids,” he said.

“This is very different to my sprint swimming, I did 57km backstroke out of the 62km.”

McClure said open ocean swimming of this length was more rewarding and very difficult to achieve as it was mentally challenging.

“I’m almost lucky I’m blind to rely on these people. I wouldn’t have to rely on them as much if I could see,” he said.

“I’m very proud of myself and proud of everyone here. It makes me emotional.”

McClure and his support team had attempted the swim in June, but aborted the challenge when most of the crew became unwell because of the weather, and ocean currents pulled swimmers south. McClure had swam 41km in 16 hours before calling it off.

McClure said about 15km towards the end of this weekend’s successful bid, he became ill and was ready to give up, but his guide swimmers helped him push through.

“Eventually I got closer, the last 8km felt like forever but we got here,” he said.

Swimming support Rachel Rowland said everyone was loaded up on motion sickness medication to prevent becoming seasick, but towards the end it was still a challenge.

“About 3am we had a medical check on Jeremy, he was cold and tired and we were worried at that point,” she said.

“We switched his feeds around and told him to push on and he kept going. Then the sun came up and we were all happy.

“We had more people on our team so we could rest up and take turns, the weather was better overnight because the mental game is really difficult overnight.”

After reaching shore, McClure was taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up, but was given the all-clear.

McClure said he would like supporters to donate to Guide Dogs WA.

Visit https://www.mycause.com.au/ to donate.