Scotch College

Plenty of inspiration for two epic swims

Two amazing epic swims just weeks apart by Dougal Hunt (’97) have helped to raise more than $50,000 for Cancer Council Victoria – and the inspiration has come from Dougal’s concern for a brother and a close friend.

In late August, Dougal swam the English Channel from England to France (approximately 40km), then backed up to successfully tackle the shorter but highly challenging Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco (about 14km) in early October.

Dougal is one of only about 800 people to swim the channel, and only the 178th, and just the seventh Australian, to swim the Strait of Gibraltar. His swim took just three hours and 40 minutes, only 20 minutes behind the world record.

Dougal, who is a pharmacist living in Dublin, Ireland, achieved the channel swim after considerable discomfort, battling against cold, fatigue, tide and currents, eventually coming ashore at Cape Gris Nez in France.

‘I had made it,’ he said. ‘I had swum from England to France in a 13 hours

34 minutes slog. It was nothing like I had expected; nothing like I had trained. Having never been a member of any swim club in my life, I was now a lifetime member of the most elite one in the world!

‘I am so glad to say that I never contemplated getting back on board [the escort boat]; I never succumbed to the channel demons when I hit the wall three times, and I know that I can pinpoint the time when I knew I was going to make it.

‘I will never forget the whiteboard message at about the six-hour mark that came down. It was from my brother, Sam: “Never give up”.’

Sam has faced challenges of his own in his VCE year, having been diagnosed in April with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Happily, after chemotherapy and a major operation he is in remission, and at the time of writing was getting ready to tackle his VCE exams. Hailing from Shepparton, Sam is Captain of Arthur Robinson House, and is a School Officer.

Sam told Great Scot that Dougal had been unable to hold down food during the channel swim, and had become very tired and extremely cold, despite the comparatively warm sea temperatures, and was even hallucinating – seeing ships in the water that weren’t there.

‘He must have been completely exhausted after the swim, because he can’t remember talking to me on the phone or to an ABC Radio reporter,’ Sam said. A report on the swim later appeared on the ABC radio news.

Sam’s illness, that of a friend of Dougal’s, Jimmy Legoe – also diagnosed this year with cancer, and also now in remission – together with the death of his grandfather from a form of cancer last year, have inspired Dougal to perform his fundraising swimming feats.

‘My brother Sam and Jimmy Legoe: your resilience during your diagnosis and chemotherapy astounded me,’ Dougal said after the channel swim. ‘You elicited a determination in me that I never knew existed. I am so glad that you are both in remission. Let’s keep it that way!’

If you’d like to support Dougal’s fundraising for the fight against cancer, visit www.mycause.com.au and search under “Hunt”. GS