Welcome to IASC-Swim, the home of the Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) English Channel swim.

All Three Teams have been successfull!!

This month (September '09), three relay teams from ILIM, successfully attempted the "Everest" of swimming - the English Channel.

ILIM's Attempt to Swim the Channel (IASC) was launched in September 2008 to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. After a years training and fundraising all three teams travelled to Folkestone and successfully crossed the Channel. En-route, the teams encountered strong tides, swimming in the pitch dark, attacking birds and persisted to finally land on the French coast. 

Cancer is a unique problem that crosses all social dimensions and demographics and has touched nearly everyone's life, either directly or indirectly. So, go on, help us out.

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Glenn Treacy, 37, is the founder the IASC project. Resigned to being a poor swimmer he began considering swimming as a result of running injuries and began experimenting with Total Immersion several years ago. Since a friend had swum the channel by relay in 1998 he harboured a private fascination with channel swimming and proposed the project to satisfy desires to address cancer charity, channel swimming and corporate responsibility.

Catherine Fox, 26, is the lifeguard at the Irish Life pool. She swam competitively with the Tallaght swim team as a teenager. She has been in and out of the water all her life and was naturally attracted to the project. A number of her friends are suffering from cancer at the moment so raising money for the Irish Cancer Society is a strong motivation in itself.

Alan Grace, 32, swam competitively up to the age of 15 before switching to water-polo. Having had some unpleasant experiences with rocks and jellyfish in the past he is keen to conquer open water swimming. He considers the busiest shipping channel in the world the ideal place to settle the score.

Ian Murphy, 40, is the Head of IT at ILIM. Originally from Clare he has enjoyed a hate-hate relationship with water all his life – hence his family’s initial disbelief. He considers this an opportunity to do something out of his comfort zone and this is about as far away as it gets for him. He enjoys working on a goal that he wouldn’t have considered a reality a few years ago.

Aoife Broderick, 26, from Carlow used to associate swimming with holidays but credits a Total Immersion course with kick starting her swimming. Her family initially thought she was joking but mother is still in denial. Raising money for cancer means a lot to Aoife. She also considers this a once in a lifetime opportunity and couldn’t bear not to be involved.

Eoin Keating, 32, from Kilkenny was a keen swimmer in his teenage years and completed all the Irish Water Safety lifesaving exams. His family are adopting a wait and see approach. He has never undertaken anything like this before and considers it a good opportunity to get into shape – he is meant to be getting married at some point.

Colm O’Brien is coy about his age perhaps due to his lack of hair. He is surprisingly good at swimming under water with scuba-diving gear on but surprisingly bad when he gets to the surface. He has always wanted to be able to swim properly and this project was the perfect incentive to improve his swimming, while availing of the once in a lifetime opportunity to swim the channel.

Aodhagán Byrne, 33, has a collection of three-legged race titles. He hopes his lack of French will not hold him back in this challenge. He has recently taken the Total Immersion course and trains with plenty of total immersion drills while trying to swallow as little chlorine water as possible. He sees the channel swim as a great personal challenge and believes the Irish Cancer Society is a worthy cause.

Stephen Moffitt, 36, works in process improvement and used to be a casual swimmer who enjoyed laps of the pool as a way to unwind and relax. He relishes a challenge and completed the annual Liffey Descent in a Canadian canoe some years back. His motivation is to raise money for charity while participating in an adventure.

Ciaran Gargan, 30, has no background whatsoever in swimming. His family are only starting to recover from the shock now. He attended a Total Immersion course in December and now gets to the pool 3/4 times a week; practicing drills and gradually building up the distance. He is not looking forward to the cold water acclimatisation part of the training.

Mary Ann Hernon, 26, works as a quantitative analyst in ILIM. No stranger to competition and challenges she was part of competitive short-distance swimming until the age of 13 in Boston before representing Ireland in the Schoolgirls Soccer World Cup in Peru. Last year she was crowned the Sean-Nós dancing champion of Ireland. Raising money for the Irish Cancer Society is a strong and personal motivator for her to work towards the goal of swimming the channel.

Fergus Dowd, 50, works as a property fund manager. His family thought he was joking when he announced he was going to swim the channel. There are many reasons why the project appeals to Fergus. Turning 50 he was immediately attracted to the unique challenge of the channel swim as a means of helping him come to terms with his mid-life crisis (He couldn’t afford the sports car). He also wants to show his children that no goal is impossible to achieve if you set your mind to it, plan carefully, break the task into small chunks and then follow through diligently.

Catherine McLaughlin, 28, a fixed income fund manager, her forte is the playing the piano rather than sport. Having competed and won many piano competitions she believes that with drive and focus anything is possible. Catherine is delighted to be raising money for cancer - a  close friend lost her father to cancer and other friends and family have been affected also. Her friends think she is mad and she thinks her family are lighting candles already in secret.

Andrew McClatchie, 40, the Group Property Manager made himself sign when he got Glenn’s reminder email about the project. “I am a sedentary 40 something. That's not a good combination and unless something crazy happens, I am as likely to get fit as I am to turn 39 on my next birthday. I put my name down to swim the channel but can't say why here as the positives run to about 500 words.”

David Jones, 39, works in IT and originally hails from Liverpool where he did some short distance competitive swimming when he was young. David is another devotee of the Total immersion method. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for him to experience swimming the channel and get together with a great team of people around the company to generate as much support as possible for such an important charity. He is not looking forward to the jellyfish.

Conor Murnane, 33, recently escaped from IT to a project team in Fund Management. Along with the channel, he has plans to do half marathons, triathlons and perhaps a full marathon this year. Conor was the driving force behind MOILIM, ILIM’s successful Movember charity drive which raised €15,000.