Pride of the Irish gave me the will to swim on and on

It has been an amazing year for me, it is very strange to write it down and realise that in 2012 I was so fortunate as to finish the Oceans 7 Challenge and become the first Irish person and the first person in the world to swim them all. I have been very, very lucky.

I left Ireland in February, in the dead of winter, alone, to travel all the way to New Zealand to swim the Cooke Strait. I met so many Irish people who wanted to see an Irish person succeed in their adopted country and were so proud to be Irish — it was their belief in me that drove me on.

The fear of failure drove me on through the worst moments; an amazing, humbling week I will never forget.

Then to go on and try Moloaki Channel in Hawaii a week later was just a crazy idea but I had no choice — it was on the way home. To attempt the longest channel of them all and succeed swimming for 22.30 hours and 44 miles was beyond description and relief.

You never think you can swim these kinds of distance but you make yourself bel-ieve you can. It took me weeks to accept I had managed to do the two channels and really had a chance to finish the channels.

The belief people had in me and the interest in the swims and finishing the last one became an unstoppable wave which took over my every waking minute. That and the desire to finish was all that was important. I was too far in to give up.

To finally finish Tsugauru on the second trip and the fourth attempt. To stand there on the beach in the middle of the night and feel a deep connection with everyone around the world who had been involved had helped me achieve and for that one second everyone was there on that beach and it all made sense, then that second was gone.

There are just too many people to thank and I owe so many so much: My family, my organising team, the people of West Cork and Ireland who drove me on to succeed. I always think that being Irish is what gave me the will to succeed.

I was always the underdog — never expected to beat great swimmers from around the world, and I did. To be honest it’s everyone’s achievement. I could never have done it alone and every day I remember a moment from a swim or how somebody helped me during the years. This will go on for a long time to come and I will never forget these moments. Thanks to you all for 2012.

Never give up. There is always something left inside you.