Ayrshire man breaks record for swimming around Manhattan Island

A swimmer who grew up in Ayrshire has set a new record swimming around Manhattan Island in New York despite suffering illness.

Andy Donaldson - who grew up in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire – navigated the 45.9km circumference in five hours, 41 minutes and 48 seconds, beating the previous record, set in 2011 by Oliver Wilkinson, by two minutes.

He started the challenge at 2am local time, swimming throughout the night past famous landmarks.

Navigating currents as strong as four knots, he relied on the support of an experienced team including skipper Sean Makofsky, New York Open Water (NYOW) president Rondi Davies, kayaker Alex Arevalo and handlers Jay Prchal and Pete Bird.

And he explained their precision to detail was integral to his success as he reached a maximum speed of 12kph.

A delighted Andy said afterwards: "This was one of my toughest challenges yet, both physically and mentally.

"With the three rivers' tides impacting the swim, we had to time everything perfectly for a shot at the record.

"I've been struggling with illness leading up to the event, so it was really tough out there."

Andy left Scotland in 2013 to pursue swimming professionally and has since stacked up another three records.

Last year, he became the fastest person to swim across the Cook Strait, which separates New Zealand's North and South islands, in four hours, 33 minutes and 50 seconds.

He also gained two records for the Ocean's Seven swimming challenge, which consists of seven open water channel swims around the world, including the North Channel, the English Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar.

He beat the challenge in the shortest timespan, managing all seven straits in 355 days between August 7 2022 and July 27 2023.

He also has the record for the shortest cumulative swim time at 63 hours, two minutes and nine seconds.

Additionally, he also holds the British record for swimming across the English Channel.

With his new record, he said he now plans to push the limits of swimming even further and wants to raise awareness of issues he cares about such as ocean health and youth mental health.

Andy finished: "I'm hugely grateful for my team and supporters - without them, this wouldn't have been possible."

{{news}}

• swimmer