{"id":62274,"date":"2025-09-13T20:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/62274\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T20:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:17:09","slug":"joy-for-71-year-old-derek-wilkes-after-winning-his-second-liffey-swim-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/62274\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy for 71-year-old Derek Wilkes after winning his second Liffey Swim \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of competing in his 55th Liffey Swim, Derek Wilkes from north Dublin held on tight to a lucky charm \u2013 his winning medal from 1989.<\/p>\n

Little did he realise just how lucky it would be, as he emerged from the water the winner of the men\u2019s race for a second time \u2013 36 years after his first triumph. <\/p>\n

Wilkes reflected on what has become a long-standing tradition for him and many others as he prepared to enter the river on Saturday afternoon for the 105th running of the event. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love the Liffey Swim,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m originally from Ormond Square and as a child I used to come over and look at the Liffey Swim, so that\u2019s how I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

His friend, Joe McSweeney (64), joined him on Rory O\u2019More Bridge for his 32nd race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re from the inner city. We grew up here so it\u2019s kind of like going back to your roots, said McSweeney. \u201cYears ago, the bookies used to take bets. Anybody could win it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"SwimmersSwimmers participating in the 105th Liffey Swim in Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

\"SomeSome swimmers sang Molly Malone as they took the plunge at the start of the 105th Liffey Swim. Photograph: Alan Betson\/The Irish Times<\/p>\n

Just after 3pm, the first batch of swimmers began to enter the water, rousing themselves with a rendition of Molly Malone.<\/p>\n

Swim Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane, who swims with the Aer Lingus Masters club, said she was simultaneously \u201cdreading\u201d the race and \u201cenjoying the crowds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come down today not as fit as I would usually be,\u201c she said. \u201dI\u2019m injured and I\u2019m dreading it, but I\u2019m also still really enjoying the crowds and the community behind it.”<\/p>\n

Wearing bright blue swimming caps, the waiting participants along Victoria Quay threw their hands up in song while hundreds of spectators gathered across the banks of the river.<\/p>\n

The whistle sounded and they were off.<\/p>\n

A couple of hours later, at the finish line on Custom House Quay, Wilkes had a shiny new medal in hand. A member of the North Dublin WS Club, he finished first in 36 minutes and 45 seconds. His sons Karl and Gerard \u2013 Gerard also competed this year and won in 2014 \u2013 were with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel fabulous, really fabulous. I didn\u2019t think I could do it, but it goes to show you.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Liz Keary (52), who swims with the Ocean Breakers Club, won the women\u2019s event with a time of 41 minutes and five seconds.<\/p>\n

\"TwinTwin brothers Bruce and Lex Healy (12), the youngest swimmers in this year’s Liffey Swim, with their mum Rachael Lee – a former winner of the race. Photograph: Alan Betson<\/p>\n

\"MarieMarie Kelly marked her 77th Birthday by participating in the Liffey Swim. Photograph: Nick Elliott\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Also at the finish line, 12-year-old twins Bruce and Lex Healy from Malahide, Dublin, celebrated completing what they hope is the first of many Liffey Swims. The duo, who swim with Portmarnock Club, were the youngest participants in the race. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed it and I\u2019d definitely do it again,\u201d said Bruce. Lex agreed: \u201cI really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swimming is in their blood. Their mother, Rachael Lee, who also competed, won the women\u2019s race in 2014. She holds the overall Irish record \u2013 for men and women \u2013 for crossing the English Channel. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Liffey Swim saw 324 people take part – 124 women and 200 men. Seven swimmers over 70 took part, with birthday girl Marie Kelly the oldest participant at 77. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of competing in his 55th Liffey Swim, Derek Wilkes from north Dublin held on tight to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[787,18,788,789,19,17,5873,5874,132,791],"class_list":{"0":"post-62274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-essential","11":"tag-horizontal","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-pope","15":"tag-religion","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-topix"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}