RNLI fundraisers ‘sad it’s over’ after epic challenge

The fund-raising team with Colin in the centre with the lifeboat and crew in the background.

The star fundraisers who raised more than £10,000 for the Stornoway RNLI by covering 1000 miles under their own steam this year are reflecting on a job well done after smashing their fundraising target and have insisted that, “without people’s generosity, it’s nothing”.

Hebridean sea swimmer Colin S Macleod brought the team’s epic challenge to a close in Stornoway on Saturday, 14 December, with a half mile swim from Sober Island to Cuddy Point.

It was a virtual Land’s End to Shetland challenge, extended mid-year from the original plan of Land’s End to John O’Groats as the team were making such good progress.

While Colin swam his 1000 miles in the sea, his teammates covered the distance on land. Star fundraiser Jane Maciver, who has raised more than £34,500 for Stornoway RNLI over the years and was presented with an award recognising this in October, walked the 1000 miles.

Colin emerges from the sea at Cuddy Point

Donald Smith, who set up the Hebrides Triathlon along with Colin, cycled the 1000 miles. Councillor Paul Finnegan ran 1000 miles and a trio of Malcolm Dalzel-Job, Cinzia Zingone and Tolsta Dave covered the distance in a triathlon format.

The Saturday they finished, the lifeboat followed Colin in the water, while his teammates walked a ceremonial mile from Cuddy Point to the viewpoint and back. Jane laughed as she told how Colin beat them over the line. “We were like, ‘quick, he’s coming in!’ We didn’t think he’d be that quick.”

The assembled gathering included family, friends, MP Torcuil Crichton, who gave the challenge an honourable mention in the House of Commons, and piper James Duncan Mackenzie, who had also piped at the start of the challenge in January.

The team then walked to the lifeboat station, passing a lifeboat guard of honour on the YM bridge, complete with Stormy Stan the mascot, and the celebrations continued afterwards in MacNeills. At the time of writing, their JustGiving page has raised £12,500 when Gift Aid is taken into account and will be open till the New Year, at www.justgiving.com/page/2024styrnlilejog.

The local lifeboat crew with some of the fund-raising crew.

Jane said: “It is absolutely phenomenal how kind people have been. The price of living these days and people are still so generous. People’s generosity never fails to get you, how kind people are. Although we’re doing all these things, without people’s generosity it would be nothing.”

To cover 1000 miles in the sea, Colin had done around 300 swims and would often swim three times a day. He made a rule of “never doing a marathon swim”, which is considered to be 10k in the water, but would typically do 12 daily miles, over swims of five, four and three miles.

Most of his swims – 988 miles altogether – were done at the Braighe. In total, he did 583.5 miles on the Minch side, 405 on the Broadway side, nine miles at Coll, three at Tolsta and eight in Ireland when he was on holiday. Overall, it took him 23 days, seven hours and 59 minutes.

Colin said: “It was nice to have so many people there at the end. It was good to get finished and emotional for the whole team. Everybody was asking ‘what next’? The answer is nothing – for the moment. People ask, ‘do you not get bored of swimming at the Braighe?’ but it changes. If you’re into the outdoors, every day is different. I love it.”

Jane, who is a frequent sight around Stornoway, out and about with her canine companion, has completed multiple fundraisers and started her walking challenges in 2019.

She admitted to being sad it was over. “It’s the first time I’ve done anything in a team. Usually I’m just doing it myself and then people might join me, like on Bernera to Stornoway. Apart from Colin I didn’t know any of these people beforehand, so it’s nice and I think we’ll always have that bond, now that we’ve done this together.”