“Sorry I missed your calls, I was in the pool training”. Dan Martin hadn’t answered the phone when I tried to reach him the first couple of times. Then again, Dan is a man with a lot of training to do.
Beginning this May, he will paddle out into the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia and begin swimming the first part of the first ever global triathlon. The first leg involves crossing the pond to the French town of Brest, followed by leg 2, cycling across Europe and Asia and finally, leg 3, trekking and running across Canada.
The Global Triathlon idea has its origins in one of Dan’s previous challenges; cycling through the Sahara desert in searing heat. “It was 51°c and my seat was actually burning through my shorts. I just thought that it would be really nice to have a dip in the ocean right now”. A dip in the ocean is however very different to swimming across it.
But with vast experience in cycling challenges on his side it’s the swimming leg of the trip that vexes most of Dan’s friends and family “It’s the swimming that confuses most people... they can get their heads round the cycling and the running but the thought of swimming across an ocean in just your trunks puts me in the nutcase category”. Trunks indeed, Dan will be in just his swimming smalls as he’s taking on the swimming leg according to the rules for English Channel swimming which permits only trunks, goggles, a swimming hat and petroleum jelly to prevent chaffing.
Supporting him along the way will be a boat crew who’ll take a GPS location reading at the end of each day’s swim so that so he can start there again the next morning.
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when the visibility in the ocean is only 5m-10m down, you could be just above a great white shark
Due to the enormity of the cross Atlantic leg, Dan’s training schedule has been dominated by the water “The only thing I can train for at the moment is the swim. Any training I do for running or cycling will be lost in a four month stint at sea, so I’m just spending all my time swimming longer and longer distances and getting used to being in very cold water” Its been a steady build up for Dan during his training spending between two and eight hours a day in the water each month and then a ten day period at the end of each month in which he spends a full eight hours a day swimming, “the last two months I’ve been out in Tenerife training but this month I’ve had to do it here in a pool which has been hell! It’s been very difficult to focus when you have to do a tumble turn every 25m and watch out for ladies doing widths”.
From the recent photos posted on Dan’s website it’s quite obvious what one of the main preparations he’s had to make. Dan has had to pile on the weight; he now comes in at 21 stone and is aiming to be between 23 and 24 stone by the time the challenge starts “the weight gain is purely for fighting off the cold. Basically there’s nothing between you and this 10°c water so the more you can get between your internal organs and your support system and the ocean that’s trying to literally kill you, the better”.
The weight won’t be around for long though as once its on there’ll be a race against to time to shed it in time for the last running leg of the challenge, “We’ve made it so I’ll lose about a stone a month for ten months, which will allow me to keep enough weight on during the swim. That’ll mean that I get down to 13-14 stone once the run comes round but any heavier than that and I won’t be able to do the run as my joints just won’t be able to take the impact of running 5500 miles for 9 months”.
All in, the challenge is being predicted to take 18 months with a 4 month swim, a 6 month cycle and a 9 month run that will take Dan once around the world.
As if the physical demands weren’t tough enough, Dan’s also having to shape up mentally too. He’ll face long periods of isolation, sensory deprivation and countless dangers, especially during the cycling and running periods where he’ll be unaccompanied. “There are two mental challenges here, one is the danger element and the other is the challenge of just keeping going from day to day. The day to day challenge is about becoming the master of your own mind and focusing on short term targets like the next 5 minutes and the next 10 strokes. On the danger side I’ve been seeing a sports psychologist who’s helping me focus on the things under my control”.
It’ll be his ability to quash those fears and the luck of avoiding such realities that will be vital to Dan completing this task. With so many things that can affect his progress, from muscle strains to attacking predators and aggressive weather conditions, it’s hard to see the 18 month journey being smooth going all the way “there’s always that kind of risk in your mind when the visibility in the ocean is only 5m-10m down that you could be just above a great white shark, then as well I’ll be swimming through hurricane season so there could be 80ft-90ft seas to get through”. Unbelievably though this isn’t what Dan considers the greatest risk. No, in Dan’s view that comes when he jumps on his bike, “the danger is Siberia where it’s going to be -80°c with polar bears, packs of wolves and no roads”. You just have to respect this man.
So why do all this? A very good reason indeed. The challenge is all in aid of the Dan Martin Foundation which focuses on the spread of education throughout less developed regions for under privileged children, “the whole point of this is education, environment and expedition and it’s important that it’s in that order. Education is the main thing I’m concerned with and there wouldn’t be much point of this challenge if I was doing it for a laugh”. In addition to everything else he’s doing, Dan is also trying to set up links with 300 hundred schools, 100 from the UK, 100 along his route and 100 from around the rest of the world, so he can broadcast his progress to children in school assemblies and inspire them to “think big”. What’s more, there are many projects that will benefit, such as orphanages in Kenya and Nairobi. Visit Dan’s website to find out how to donate.
I’m sure there will be many who’ll doubt Dan’s ability to get through this incredible task and maybe there is more chance of things preventing him from doing it than not, but if people never try to do what seems at first impossible then progress and change for the better would be an alien concept. If just attempting this challenge makes one child’s life better then it’s all been worth it. But if the unachievable is achieved then just imagine the improvement and hope it will bring to lives of so many, and its this possibility that makes this task so worthwhile and deserving of support.