Channel swimmer among eight young people honoured at Garda awards

EIGHT young people and two groups from north and east Cork have been honoured by Gardaí for outstanding contributions to their communities and charities.

One of the winners of the annual Cork North Garda Division youth achievement awards was Owen O’Keefe, who raised €15,000 for cancer research when he became the youngest Irish person to swim the English Channel.

Last September, aged 15, he swam the channel in 10 hours and 19 minutes, the fastest time ever recorded by an Irish person. He decided to undertake the fundraiser after his grandmother, Virgie Baker, died from cancer.