A swimmer is thought to be the first to swim the length of Loch Lomond twice – and non-stop. Scott McQuade took 31.5 hours to swim 44 miles (72km) from the south end of the Scottish freshwater loch to the north, then back again. His total number of strokes was 83,268 and the calorie burn was 19,700 calories.
Scott, of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, set himself the challenge as a way to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity. His eldest son, Ross, survived a brain tumour in 2016 at the age of 19.
The 51-year-old project manager revealed the Loch Lomond Double Swim was harder than he thought it would be.
He said: “I had estimated a time of 24 to 26 hours and you can see from my eventual finish time that it took a lot longer.
“From about the 18-hour mark, I slowed a lot and I feel very tired. I was swimming on empty.
“The last 50 metres were also so tough. I thought I would never reach the shore.”
A fan of open water swimming
Scott was a keen swimmer in his childhood and then stopped in his late teens. In 2013, a friend talked him into an open water swim, the 2km Great Scottish Swim.
He was hooked after that and has enjoyed swimming outdoors all year round for many years.
He swims in a local loch as well as Loch Lubnaig in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
When training for an event, he supplements long loch swims at the weekends with sessions at Glasgow’s Tollcross centre, where there is a 50m pool.
In 2017, Scott, who is married with two grown-up sons, decided to swim a length of Loch Lomond, from north to south. He said: “After all the support for Ross from The Brain Tumour Charity, I decided I wanted to give some thing back.
“I raised funds by swimming the loch from top to bottom. It was the furthest I had swum at that point.”
Scott’s Loch Lomond Double Swim
The Loch Lomond Double had been planned for 2020 but the Covid pandemic pushed the challenge back to this year.
At 4.45pm on Friday September 9, Scott entered the water at Balloch. The water temperature was around 17C and Scott wore a wetsuit. He was supported by a boat crew, including one of his sons.
It took Scott 13 hours to complete the first length and after an eight minute break, he re-entered the water.
Scott didn’t look ahead for almost the entire swim. He said: “Looking forwards at what I still had to swim wouldn’t have help me at all.
“It was only in the last 2km, when the distance to go was tangible, that I allowed myself to glance forwards. The rest of the time I looked to the side when I was breathing, or at the boat support.
“I also tried to keep my emotions locked inside me. If you let your emotions get the better of you it ends up messy. I focused on keeping my arms going and just ticking over.
“It was a very hard challenge both physically and mentally but I had committed to raising funds for the charity and that kept me going.”
Scott describes some of the toughest parts of the endurance swim. He said: “The lead up to the challenge was hard. The training was time consuming and I was very fatigued.
“It is also hard to be in cold water for so long. I wore a deboer wetsuit, which I was very grateful to be gifted by the company because it is an expensive item. I actually wore out five wetsuits from other companies during training for the event.
“But even in the deboer wetsuit, in the last five hours of my swim I did feel the cold. Its was inevitable when I was in the water for so long.
“The final part of the swim was so hard. It was stubbornness and bloody mindedness that got me to the end. I simply refused to let myself stop.
“I also want to show my sons that if you work hard at something and give it 100% commitment you will do it. This was in my mind a lot while swimming.
“Then came the last 50 metres and I thought I’d never finish. I was emotionally so raw and physically spent and all I wanted was a hug from my wife. I kept trying to see her on the shore but I couldn’t until very close to the end.
“I managed to get out of the water and up the shore to her and had a hug and then I collapsed.”
Scott ended up in hospital that day with dehydration and a very low blood pressure. He is now fully recovered.
Highlights of Scott’s Loch Lomond swim
There were some highlights of the Loch Lomond Double Swim. Scott said: “There were times when the water was still and glass like and I relaxed and it all felt so amazing.
“The first night I was also very calm and relaxed. In the pitch black, with my ear-plugs in, I went into my own zone and all I could hear was the gentle sounds of the boat’s engine alongside me. I think I even had some micro-sleeps then, or I was simply so relaxed it felt like that.
“And after I finished I was so happy with what I’d achieved. It took a while for it to sink in. It is amazing to think I am the first person to complete this challenge.
“But, more importantly, is the reason why I set out to do the challenge and that was to raise funds for a very special charity. I have raised over £6600 for the Brain Tumour Charity so far.”
You can add to Scott’s fundraiser at JustGiving.