Scottish swimmer Scott McQuade is believed to be the first to complete two lengths of iconic Loch Lomond non-stop. I wrote this interview feature for the Scots Magazine.
Scott swims Loch Lomond length twice
Scott McQuade took 31.5 hours – and 83,268 strokes – to swim the length of Loch Lomond twice. The distance is 44 miles (72km) from the south end of the freshwater loch to the north, then back again. He has also raised almost £7500 for The Brain Tumour Charity.
Scott, of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, wanted to give back to the charity that supported his family when eldest son, Ross, suffered a brain tumour in 2016 at the age of 19.
The 51-year-old project manager revealed the Loch Lomond Double Swim was much harder than he could have ever imagined.
He says: “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 felt very tired. I was swimming on empty.
“The last 50 metres were also extremely tough and I thought I would never reach the shore.”
Scott’s progression towards the impressive challenge came after a friend talked him into an open water swim almost a decade ago. While he had been a keen swimmer in his childhood, it wasn’t until the 2km Great Scottish Swim in Loch Lomond in 2013 that his passion for the sport returned.
Now Scott swims regularly – and year-round – in several different lochs near his home, as well as one of his favourite locations, 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 50 metre 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 says: “After all the support from the Brain Tumour Charity for Ross, who was fortunate to survive the tumour, I decided I wanted to give something back.
“I raised funds by swimming Loch Lomond from top to bottom. It was the furthest I had swum on one go at that point.”
The Loch Lomond Double had been planned for 2020 but the Covid pandemic pushed the challenge back to this year.
At 4.45pm on September 9, Scott entered the water at Balloch, West Dumbartonshire. 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 on the north shore, he re-entered the water.
He reveals that he didn’t look ahead for almost the entire swim. He says: “Looking forwards at what I still had to swim wouldn’t have helped 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 can end up very messy. I focused on keeping my arms going and just ticking over.
“I don’t use my legs for the swimming, just my arms.
“It was a very hard challenge both physically and mentally but I had committed to raising funds for the charity and that really helped to keep me going.”
Scott describes some of the toughest parts of the endurance swim. He says: “The lead up to the challenge was exhausting. The training was time consuming and I was very fatigued.
“It is also very hard being in cold water for so long. I wore a wetsuit by a company called deboer (note, lower case d), which I was very grateful for. It is a very expensive product but they gifted it to me when I told them what I had planned. I actually wore out five wetsuits from other companies during my training for the event.
“But even in the deboer wetsuit, in the last five hours of my swim, I did feel the cold. It was inevitable, I guess, because I was in the water for so long.”
Highlights of double loch swim
However, there were also some highlights of the swim. Scott says: “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 wear ear-plugs to stop water going into my ear canals – 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.”
Scott confesses he had further motivation to complete the double loch swim. He says: “I wanted to show my sons that if you work hard at something and give it 100 per cent commitment you will do it. This was in my mind a lot while I was swimming.”
Despite being able to see the finish place back at Balloch after many hours in the water, Scott reports that it was the final section of the charity challenge that was the hardest.
He says: “It was stubbornness and bloody mindedness that got me to the end. I simply refused to let myself stop.”
“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. Thankfully, he has since made a full recovery.
He adds: “Looking back, I am so happy with what I achieved. It took a while for it to sink in but now it has 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 swim and that was to raise funds for a very special charity. I have raised almost £7500 for the Brain Tumour Charity so far and I am proud of this.”