Join David Stark for a riveting conversation with multi-talented Andy Donaldson - a world-renowned athlete highlighting his Oceans Seven in Record Time, his 30-kilometre swim challenge, and his recent venture back to swimming amidst the pandemic. His recent charity challenge in Western Australia, his unyielding motivation to overcome the odds, and the remarkable support from Caldera Labs will surely ignite a spark of inspiration.
This episode also uncovers a compelling narrative on the interconnection between physical and emotional hardships. Listen to Andy's heartfelt experiences - an exhilarating night swim off the coast of Byron Bay and his personal encounter with his grandfather's battle against depression. We explore the intense realities of being a professional athlete, the importance of nourishing the body, and the essential role of mental health.
Brace yourselves as we move towards discussing Australia's dynamic lifestyle and Andy's future aspirations. You'll be intrigued by the contrasting fitness levels and attitudes towards physical activity in Scotland and Australia. We also delve into the country's track record in the Olympics. Andy throws light on his contemplation about returning to competitive swimming and his pursuit of contentment in achieving challenging endurance feats. Lastly, we emphasize the power of good company, and how a dependable support network is a vital ingredient for success.
Check out our Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tiktok | Spotify | Apple | Google | Youtube
Join David Stark for a riveting conversation with multi-talented Andy Donaldson - a world-renowned athlete highlighting his Oceans Seven in Record Time, his 30-kilometre swim challenge, and his recent venture back to swimming amidst the pandemic. His recent charity challenge in Western Australia, his unyielding motivation to overcome the odds, and the remarkable support from Caldera Labs will surely ignite a spark of inspiration.
This episode also uncovers a compelling narrative on the interconnection between physical and emotional hardships. Listen to Andy's heartfelt experiences - an exhilarating night swim off the coast of Byron Bay and his personal encounter with his grandfather's battle against depression. We explore the intense realities of being a professional athlete, the importance of nourishing the body, and the essential role of mental health.
Brace yourselves as we move towards discussing Australia's dynamic lifestyle and Andy's future aspirations. You'll be intrigued by the contrasting fitness levels and attitudes towards physical activity in Scotland and Australia. We also delve into the country's track record in the Olympics. Andy throws light on his contemplation about returning to competitive swimming and his pursuit of contentment in achieving challenging endurance feats. Lastly, we emphasize the power of good company, and how a dependable support network is a vital ingredient for success.
Check out our Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | Tiktok | Spotify | Apple | Google | Youtube
I think it always comes back to your what's your why? Why are you putting yourself through this, why?
Speaker 2:One of the things we wanted to highlight was the incredible support that we've received from Caldera Labs. If you haven't noticed, my skin's looking a little nicer, the beard's looking a little fuller. I actually want to highlight two products in particular that Caldera Lab has changed the game on. The first one, the beard. It's a conditioning oil that not only helps the hair on the outside but the skin underneath it Stay rejuvenated, refreshed and looking youthful. I've been using it every single day. I can't get enough of the stuff. The other stuff we've been using is the icon. I've been using the icon every single morning and it keeps me looking for fresh.
Speaker 2:Caldera Lab creates high-performance men's skincare products and the regimen leads off their product lineup. A twice a day routine to transform your skin, whether it's cleaning, hydrating, refreshing these products do it. I can't get enough of them. They know that the skincare world is heavily female-driven and has long been in the wild wild west for men. That's why we're making the solution simple. That's why you folks can receive their best offer right now. Get 20% off by using the code AP20 at checkout. Guys, you've got to let me know what you think of this stuff, because I'm loving it. I want to know if you guys like it as well. It would mean the world to me. It also means the world to me that you're tuning into this episode of the Athletes Podcast. As you know, we have our athlete agreement. It simply means that you have to hit that subscribe button for watching this episode. We don't ask for any payment, anything else. We just ask that, whether you're watching on YouTube, listening on Spotify, apple, you hit that subscribe button and you share this with an athlete, coach or an individual that you think will benefit from hearing it. Because on our journey to educate, entertain and inspire, we need your help along the way, and I really appreciate you folks for tuning in.
Speaker 2:Here we go. You're the most decorated racquetball player in US history, world's strongest man, from childhood passion to professional athlete, eight-time Ironman champion. So what was it like making your debut in the NHL? What is your biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes, from underdogs to national champions? This is the Athletes Podcast, where high performance individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons To educate, entertain and inspire the next generation of athletes. Here we go. You've got Guinness Book of World Records. You've got swim championships.
Speaker 2:Like dude, I've been trying to figure out how I would wrap my head around introducing yourself for this episode, because it seems like you could check off so many different boxes. I know before we started recording, you were talking about your swim maybe being your better suited athletic endeavor. But, dude, andy Donaldson, welcome to the Athletes Podcast. You embody who I want to feature here on this show and someone I'm very grateful to be able to chop it up for for the next 45-hour-long conversation here. But I'm going to let you introduce yourself who you are, the incredible human being that you are, because what you've done, dude, recently, is crazy 33 kilometer challenge this past week. I'm along with the seven Guinness Records that you have, swimming across every body of water. It seems like Andy Donaldson, I'll let you take it from here, dude.
Speaker 1:Well, david, it's an absolute pleasure to be here and to chat.
Speaker 1:I know we've been talking back and forth and looking forward to jumping on this with you here for quite a while, so it's an absolute pleasure and very kind words that you've just had there.
Speaker 1:So I suppose I'm just a guy from the West Coast of Scotland who got into swimming from a young age, pursued the Olympic path, didn't quite make it and stepped away from the sport for a number of years but but during COVID found my way back to it and initially it was just a real passion for the sport and doing it for enjoyment. And as I got fitter and faster I revisited a few old goals, which has taken me into ultra marathon swimming and doing, I suppose, some crazy swims around the world to support causes which are close to my heart, including mental health. So yeah, like you mentioned, swam the World's 7 Toughest Channel Swims in the space of year last year and I'm just a week off a week fresh off a charity challenge here in Western Australia, which is where I live, which was a 33 kilometer swim, run swim to raise money for sick kids in Western Australia.
Speaker 2:Someone who we were trying to do this in person while we were down in Australia. We just arrived back yesterday morning and man, first off, 30 kilometers in the water. How's your body feeling right now, are you? I mean, I saw you were back commentating yesterday today on a swimming event. You just can't get enough.
Speaker 1:No that's it. Like. I love what I do, I love the sport and being involved in it and doing what I can to give back. I know it's a sport that's been really good to me and I surprisingly feel not too bad. Going into the swim I was actually a bit unwell there's been a wave of covid coming around and a lot of flu and viruses here in Western Australia and I started to crash a couple of days before this ultra marathon challenge, which you know, it's never nice feeling less than 100% when you go to do a normal training session, never mind doing an ultra marathon swim. So luckily I managed to survive and get through it and surprisingly I feel I feel OK a week later. Nothing didn't do too much damage and I haven't crashed.
Speaker 2:You said the run that being the three kilometer aspect of your 33 K endeavor was the hardest part for you. Just take us through. I think it's important for people to realize kind of your upbringing, how you were raised, the sport of swimming, how you competed for. You know, a decade plus would seem like, and now reintroducing yourself to the sport in 2020, after covid during covid, I should say, and between that, visiting 30 countries in 10 months like your backstory, is incredible. So I want to dive deeper into that and maybe let you share a bit about why you stopped in the midst of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course. So growing up, I was pool swimmer in Scotland. We never really dabbled in open water there because, as you can imagine, it's a bit fresh, you know, it's cold enough on the land of reminding the water. The 200 meter distances, the middle distances of swimming, was my bread and butter. And you know, like the guys around me, we all had the dream of racing for our country and racing for Great Britain at the on the international stage. And you know, I moved to England to train with with the center at Loughborough University Some of the best guys in British swimming were based there Moved out here to Western Australia to train and, amidst the preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2014, which was actually going to be hosted in Glasgow, my home city, I injured my shoulder diving into a sandbar.
Speaker 1:So it's scuppered all of the preparation. And you know things. When trials came around, I didn't quite perform as I needed to and fell shy of making a team, and that was, that was something difficult, you know, when you've spent years and years training towards a goal and one performance, that takes two minutes. It defines how your year of preparation has been and it didn't really pan out as I was expecting or really hoping, and you know that was difficult. You know seeing your friends go on and realize the stream that I suppose you shared that journey together and seeing get almost getting left behind, that was tough and I stuck with the sport for another couple of years. I started into open water. As a result, I needed a fresh change, so moved from 200 meters up to the 10 kilometer event, which is the Olympic event for open water, but I didn't see those opportunities to to compete for my country or those pathways. We actually had a guy who was top three in the world, so you know I wasn't going to be getting in front of him anytime soon. So I actually I left the sport in 2016 feeling quite unfulfilled and that I'd let a lot of people down who'd paid a lot of, spent a lot of time in me and invested a lot of faith into into what I've been doing, and I think that transition for a lot of elite athletes into the everyday world is quite a tough one.
Speaker 1:I'm an accountant, so I ended up throwing myself into my work, doing the long hours, taking on the CPA or the chartered accounting studies, so you know a day's work would be. You know they say it's nine to five, it never is. I'd leave work at about 7pm and have to study a book on tax for another two or three hours every night for the space of three years. And you know I did it and I didn't really have a life for that period of time. There wasn't much balance. I wasn't doing much sport or seeing my friends as much as I should have done and, yeah, it resulted in a fair bit of burnout and you know something that didn't happen overnight, but you know it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle and a few key events happened. You know breakups with a partner, losing some friends to suicide. You know a few issues at work, not really spending much time with family and yeah, I sort of yeah, crashed quite hard and you know I didn't.
Speaker 1:For me, I was fairly lucky. I had some good people around to help me through those titans. I ended up going and, like you say, dave, I took some time out to go backpacking. That was something that was always a dream of mine to do, to go see more of the world, and managed to see 30 countries in the space of 10 months, which was quite a lot looking back at it. But yeah, fortunately enough, covid brought me back to Australia. Obviously, it was a terrible thing, but some good things came out of it for me, and one of those was getting back into swimming.
Speaker 2:You mentioned the breakup with the partner. I was watching the live stream or the stories that were coming off your most recent journey. I think it was your sister, I can't remember who it was. One of the people on the boat was advocating for the fact that you were single and maybe deserved a partner to be joining on. Yeah, ladies who are listening to the Afti podcast know that Andy is definitely single and definitely has some high performance abilities both in the water and probably elsewhere too, Traveling from Scotland across the countries.
Speaker 2:It was a fun side note there that I thought was pretty hilarious, but obviously I'm trying to add some levity to what is a very sensitive subject, because it's something that you've done and articulated through your content and these challenges that you've been pursuing, shining light on the fact that this is something that people have to deal with.
Speaker 2:Mental health has become more of a conversation over the past decade or two, obviously with athletes across the globe here at the forefront and making sure that people are talking and having these conversations, despite the fact that may be being difficult.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I wanted to talk about obviously, one of the reasons you're doing this was your grandfather. You mentioned some other people who had passed along the way, but those thoughts that are going through your mind when you're swimming in the dark in Tasmania or when we just visited Byron Bay and there's a group of people doing open water swimming and I could not believe what they were going through in the water, we were trying to surf and we had no hope in heck of getting up on that board and these people were open water swimming and that's probably one-tenth of what you've been faced with over your years. How do you manage this such a difficult thing to do on a daily basis, because I know your routines every morning and you're going out for your swim. How are you managing that workload on top of the 9-5 job? I'm sure that's part of what led to the burnout, but this has got to be something that weighs on you over time as well. The amount you're training, having to put in these fuel of your grandfather and others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's an interesting one. I think it always comes back to what's your why, why you're putting yourself through this, why push through the pain? Or you mentioned swimming in Byron Bay or in Tasmania in the dark. You can't see what's underneath you. So we're all human, we're going to panic because there's things bigger in the water than us. Why push through that?
Speaker 1:So yeah, coming back to my grandfather, he was one of my big role models and inspirations growing up Beautiful man, just very kind, lived his life in a way where he was always giving back and helping others and really set the values and standards for our family. But he was also someone that struggled really deeply with depression and had mental struggles and that always left a profound impact on me as a child and growing up. And you know, having had struggles myself, having seen its impact on my friends and having lost friends to suicide, it is something that's close to my heart and that was a big driving factor in why I set out to do challenges like the Ocean Seven. I saw an opportunity to combine sport with purpose, to use swimming as a vehicle to raise awareness and money around good causes and things that are close to my heart and I suppose my dream would be that we do need to reduce the stigma around the topic. I know I'm not the only one that's had their struggles. I think everyone has at some point in their life or has known someone that has gone through it. It probably is one of the biggest challenges of our generation and I just want to do my small part to help.
Speaker 1:And coming back to the social media and things like my sister when she takes over the socials, we want to show the reality of things. I mean we want to show not just the highlights. Often that's what you see on Instagram or Facebook. You only see the best parts of people's lives in the highlight reel. In reality, you know, that's not the case. After many of these swims. I'm not high-fiving everyone. I'm sitting with a bucket, throwing up or chundering off the side of a boat. I'm doing these big challenges, but I'm also just a normal person that has a big sister that likes to embarrass them on social media. But I think that's good and it allows for a lot more connection and makes things a bit more relatable than these untouchable people. I think society pushes on us that we should be these kind of super models and guys with the ripped abs and massive biceps. We're not all going to look like that. We don't need to do incredible things.
Speaker 2:It hits on so many points because one of the things I try and do with this show is to educate young athletes around the fact that it's not all sunshine and rainbows. When you get to that professional level, you're going to have people stuck in the mud with you. I've heard you talk about that expression.
Speaker 1:It's a great expression, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, it's as much and as glamorous as it might seem on social media. Like you pointed out, it's not always like that. You know you're not always traveling the world. It's time consuming, there's time changes. You have to fuel your body properly. There's so many different variables that you're faced. I think I know that. I've listened to you on another podcast talk about how that travel helps you with that and you know I'm curious, you've gotten 30 countries in that last year there Was there one in particular that stood out, or one during these Ocean 7 that were as memorable like Tasmania was for us recently.
Speaker 1:Oh, I mean, that's a tough question, david. But yeah, I was fortunate to travel quite a lot of places in that year and my goal was to try and go to places that I suppose were a bit more off the beaten path, that I might not necessarily go to in the future or take my future family to. So I went to places like Israel and Palestine and I went to Ukraine before the war. And you know now you know you can't really go to those places, I suppose, or you might not want to From a safety point of view, but I really liked Columbia in South America.
Speaker 1:I thought that was fascinating. It was like almost going back in time in a sense, where things are a bit slower paced and you just Enjoy the time that you have and you're living in the present a bit more. I just had that feel when I was there, and that's that's quite nice when in today's society where sometimes always on the go and always connected, we have our phone in our pockets and looking at emails, I didn't really feel like I wanted to do that there. I was just enjoying now and with the people around you.
Speaker 2:Is that how you feel when you're swimming in the?
Speaker 1:water? Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know you don't have your phone on you, you don't have your plugs or your AirPods plugged in listening to music. It's. It's one of the few opportunities in the day where you're alone with your own thoughts and fully immersed in the water, and it's almost like my own time. It's quite a meditative state for me.
Speaker 2:The. The part that I was interested in is you mentioned how you busted up your shoulder diving into a sandbar, and I've also seen your Instagram posting these incredible tempo swims where people are complimenting your form and it's like how does one go from busting up their shoulder to now what looks like perfect form from a naked non swimmers eye? Like was there just? Was that from starting at such a young age and being able to have that ingrained into your like the muscle, muscle memory?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right. We, you know, one of the things I'll thank my coaches for from a young age we tried to focus a lot on technique and getting a good stroke, and you know, not just from an efficiency point of view but from, I suppose, an injury prevention aspect as well, especially when you're doing these big long distances of 40 or 50 kilometers. You know, think how many strokes are involved there. If you're not doing that right you're, you could be putting a lot of pressure on the wrong joints or wrong muscles in the body. But coming back to coming back to the diving into a sandbar, it was my first year in Australia here, and you know I didn't have that knowledge of surf skills or how to enter into the water properly or how to exit the water properly.
Speaker 1:I was a strictly pool swimmers, so open water was something that was quite alien to me and I was just watching other people do it. It's a huge thing here in Australia. It's almost ingrained into the culture. You know beach life and swimming in the ocean. So I was watching my friends do these dolphin dives. I tried to copy them and straight into a sandbar. My shoulder took the whole brunt of it and you know I was. I was incredibly embarrassed at the time, but you know it could have been a lot worse than I could be in a wheelchair right now, could have done a fair bit of damage to my neck and my spine. So I think that's it Like it's education, and you need that coaching or someone to teach you how to make that transition into open water. And for people that are wanted to start it, my advice would be you know, go with a friend that is experienced or someone that knows it, because safety is paramount.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you always have a support boat with you. It seemed like there was a good amount of people on that boat as well. I want to talk about that support network, what it's like having them. But you mentioned how many strokes are involved in a 30, 40, 50 kilometer swim. Do you know that number? Like how many there are?
Speaker 1:I could do the maths, so you're looking. I try to hold 60 strokes per minute. So say, for example, the English channel was eight hours, exactly what are you looking at? 8 times 60 times 60. I'm at my computer so I can do the maths. I'll get my count.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't do mental math here. We got that from the my First Million pod. We brush that upon it. We're not going to make people do it in front, but someone listening will drop that comment 60 minutes times, 8 hours, almost 30,000 strokes 30,000 strokes, dude.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think about when. The last time I took 30,000 steps was. We didn't even do that on any of those hikes in Australia, dude. That's crazy. And you're doing that in one fell swooped swimming. I can barely do three kilometres in a swimming pool, let alone 30K outdoor. Any intimidation when you take on something like this. You've done so many. Now You've got that confidence built up. I talked about it in one of our previous episodes with Christy Jenkins actually, who's an Australian down there he might know the name who. At a certain point you have built confidence and you know you're capable of these things. Obviously, you've talked about the variables that are at play. Every time You've had experience around, maybe not performing as well, when you get hyped up, led up to these events, but by now you're like, oh, this is kind of a piece of cake.
Speaker 1:You've done this many times, right, it's an interesting one. I'm going to use that cop out answer.
Speaker 1:It depends, because if it's quite it depends what's riding on that swim. There's always going to be factors that make something a bit more nerve-wracking than others. If it's quite low pressure, like for example perhaps last Sunday with this swim for the kids charity, there wasn't any pressure to do it fast, it was more about completion, so that takes a little bit of the edge off. I think experience will always do you good in the future. I've had experiences of swims where things have gone wrong. I've had my boat break down. I've had swims where the currents were just not ideal and I've been stuck in the same spot for the last two hours.
Speaker 2:Let's go through your mind when that happens. Dude, I heard that story. I was like man, I would just tough.
Speaker 1:It's brutal. It's absolutely brutal. Nothing can prepare you for that unless you've experienced it. So, just to provide a bit context and to paint a picture, that was in a 44 kilometer swim from Molokai Island to Oahu in Hawaii. It was a swim through the night and we were probably only halfway through when I discovered in the last two hours I'd only covered three kilometers where I would normally cover close to 10. And it was because the currents we were swimming into head on current. So that's, it's absolutely shattering news to receive that, but I don't know what the alternative is. So, like you said, there's a support crew that goes along beside you. Someone on the boat is communicating that to you. So on that swim I had a guy called Jay Prashaw and Joy Kalmikovs was the other support crew member there, and it's hard for them because you know they have to break the news to you. But you, you, you.
Speaker 1:It comes back to your why? I think like why should I push on? Why should I keep on going even though I'm not even halfway? And there's that uncertainty which makes it a lot harder, like is it going to get worse or is it going to get better? And you have to almost play tricks on your mind and say, look, I've got to keep going and hope that this is going to get better, but also be prepared if it doesn't get better. Have I got enough in the tank to see me through? So yeah, like, like I was saying, those having experience of that, when you address a new challenge and you know you've gotten through that one before, that's a lot of that provides a lot of comfort coming into these fresh challenges and, you know, gives you the confidence to tackle any, any curveballs that come your way.
Speaker 2:You're a better man than me, Andy Donaldson. If I saw that I had just spent two hours in the same spot swimming in the ocean, I would have some internal dialogue. That does not match what you just said.
Speaker 1:That certainly is, and then it always is like you have a bit of a meltdown. But you know it helps when you have good people around to keep you calm and keep you focused.
Speaker 2:And to hand you drinks that are your fuel on a. How often are you drinking your mid swim drinks? It looks kind of crazy. I don't know what your fueling system looks like, but it's like in one fell swoop you're able to slug back what looks like half or a quarter of a Gatorade bottle filled with some type of fuel, I'm assuming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, dave. So, just just like in a marathon run, you obviously have to keep your body fueled through. You know what could be up to 16 hours of swimming. So we were taking on. Typically in a swim we would take on drinks every 20 minutes. So on the boat we just hand the bottle out to you, slug that back and to keep on swimming.
Speaker 1:And we've really tried to make that quite an efficient and fast process because, like we were talking about with the currents, if you stop and hang around too long, sometimes you get swept back in a couple hundred meters and you're spending the next five minutes getting back to where you were. So you know I can usually get these things down the hatch in about two or three seconds. It's quite an efficient process. There's videos of it on the Instagram if anyone wants to have a look and check it out.
Speaker 1:But there's a lot of yeah, there's a lot of thought that goes into the nutrition side of things and we try to be quite smart about it. For us, our approach has always been hard work will get you somewhere, smart work will get you further and if we can be quite scientific with our nutrition and how we fuel ourselves, things like the frequency and temperatures of the water or the feeds that they get handed across to you. That helps us out in the bigger scale, because you know, I think you need everything at your disposal to make a successful crossing in many of these channels.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'm like now. I want to know how many feeds are you taking on a 16 hour journey? What was that last one?
Speaker 1:Well, it would be every 20 minutes. So every 20 minutes we're taking a drink and we're talking about 200 milliliters, so about a third of a Gatorade bottle, and on the colder swims. So you know some of these, taking the ocean seven as an example, the seven toughest channel swims in the world, and you know we're not doing these swims in wetsuits, it's purely in a pair of speedos. And you know you got swims like the English Channel from England to France. Swims like the Cook Strait, which is between the two islands of New Zealand, ireland to Scotland. You can imagine how cold that is.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, we're trying to do everything that we can to stay warm and keep the muscles moving and stop the body from shutting down, because you know what's our body temperature? 35 degrees, 36. These waters are closer to 12 or 13 degrees, which I think in Fahrenheit, maybe about 60. I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, something like that.
Speaker 1:So it is. It's absolutely brutal and you know we'll heat up the feeds for those just to give you not just that initial blast of hot or warmth but also, from a psychological and psychological point of view, Keeping yourself, you know, giving yourself something to look forward to every 20 minutes or every 15 minutes, and keeping that engine in the fire burning through these swims.
Speaker 2:That must have made the Catalina one feel like the wine mixer then in that warm water.
Speaker 1:Catalina was good. So that's a swim, obviously from Catalina Ireland back to the mainland in Los Angeles. It's 32 kilometers. I think. I'm not too sure that would be in miles 20 miles, just shy of 20 miles. And it was one.
Speaker 1:It was a pretty surreal one. I was actually I was quite unwell coming into it. I'd had quite a stressful few weeks leading up to a few personal issues, a few cash flow issues where I didn't have much money in the bank, and you know this ocean seven challenge was something that was personally paid for. I'm not a sponsored athlete, so that was a stressful time and it resulted in just completely crashing before the swim. And you know, if I had to scale myself on a scale of one to 10 of how I felt, with 10 being the best, I probably was about a free going into that swim, and you know it was.
Speaker 1:It was a pretty daunting thing and you know I had family flying in from Scotland to support on the boat. I had people flying in from some parts of America to come to someone coming across from Australia. So the pressure was there and this was swim number six of the seven and yeah, I was pretty bedridden for the days leading up to the swim, and it was probably the only time of this last year where I thought to myself you know, I don't want to be here. I'm actually pretty scared. I'm going to let these people down.
Speaker 2:What is so crazy about this entire thing is the fact that you were able to overcome that, complete this Ocean 7 in a 63 hour world record Like that's. You're one of 24 people in the world that have ever completed this. To now have the world record to do this self-funded, to free I'm like that part alone is a testament to your hard work discipline. I'm trying to wrap my head around how someone like you has not been blown up worldwide and what you've accomplished Obviously like the cool part is that you're doing it for a good cause and you're not doing this for a monetary gain. I think hopefully people listening to this realize what an impact you've had, probably on so many individuals across the world, showcasing kind of this intrinsically, extrinsically motivated individual that's been able to accomplish these incredible feats. And, like you said, you know you're not on the cover of muscle and fitness, jacked up, oiled up Like this is just a good guy with a good heart doing incredible things.
Speaker 2:I want to also give you like shine light on that support system. I know we talked about it. They're the ones that help you out. They don't maybe necessarily get the same kind of glitz and glam accolades the newspaper articles written about them, but you've talked about it many times that they are the reason why you can get through it as well.
Speaker 2:I think twofold. First off, just kudos to you, man, for being able to do what you've done, get through that sitting at a three on your sixth of your seventh swim Like man, one of the one of the very few people that I get the honor to speak to have this kind of endearment and dedication, and I want to thank you because I think there needs to be more people out in this world that are doing these incredible things and not looking for anything in return. So I wanted to just share that. Make sure you know how grateful I am for this conversation because I'm inspired after it. I've talked about doing an all trip, potentially one day, but now my desk definitely is kicked into gear, not in the swim. I definitely need to work on my swimming, but I might have to start with an ultra run, but it that way.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's it and firstly, thank you again. I'm very, very grateful for your kind words there, david and I'm just an average guy from the West Coast of Scotland and you know that's what I'd love to get through here is that you know, if I've been able to do these things, why can't anyone else? You know we're all capable of quite big things and we all have a voice. I'm using mine to try support, I suppose, mental health, and I'd love to get into the climate change and ocean conservation space too, because you know they're huge issues that I think we all need to start taking a bit more care and attention of, and swimming kind of goes hand in hand with those two. But coming coming back to the support networks, I mean going back to, to Catalina, the people that did fly in from from around the world.
Speaker 1:You know, initially I did see that as something that was was additional pressure, but when I got there it became the exact opposite and they became my motivation why I should push through, and it was just something simple from from my dad who just said to me, you know, like, look, you might not feel, you might not be feeling your best. You can always just give this one your best, and if you've done that, you know you can't ask for any more. And you know I think that really applies to all aspects of life that sometimes the stars won't align and sometimes you don't feel perfect going into something, but if you've given it your best can, can you really ask for more? That's what we should all strive for and in my eyes, Couldn't put it any better.
Speaker 2:I was talking with my mom before this episode and she was thinking, like man, if you're a support network and you see the guy in the ocean throwing up, how do you not pull him out of the water during that? Like you've got to have some trusting people on that boat that know you, they know what you're capable of and where your limit is. What's going through their minds, what's going through your mind? I also got to ask like it takes you two, three seconds to get down that Gatorade bottle full of your fuel. How long does it take to swallow the jellyfish?
Speaker 1:Well, I think this is this is actually a really important area to talk on, david, and for me I was very fortunate the support crew. So you've got a support crew in every swim. The skippers are all local because you know, they know the waters. So if we do a swim in Hawaii, we've got a Hawaiian skipper, or we go to Catalina, we've got someone from Los Angeles, or someone here in Australia for an Australian swim, and so forth, so forth.
Speaker 1:A gentleman here in Perth, a guy called Jay Prashal, when I was outlining this plan, he asked me he was like who's coming with you to do these swims, to support? And I just said, oh, don't actually have anyone. And you know he just said, well, look, I'm taking a sabbatical from work for a year. How about I join you? So you know, this guy, who is a swimming teammate of mine, stuck up his hand. He paid his own way to come to six of the last seven swims in the Ocean, seven, you know, which is a really amazing thing to support someone. And I think having someone that knows the drill so it can just slot into each swim, that obviously helps. Knows how you operate, knows what your limits are, you know you were talking about.
Speaker 1:As a member of support crew, if you saw someone throwing up in the water like what you know, should you pull them out To paint a picture? My last swim of the Ocean Seven, which was the Suguru Strait in Japan, I threw up within 30 minutes of the swim starting. So, and I threw up about four times in the first two hours. So, you know, and that was because of rough conditions, we had horrendous conditions out in the water, but the team knew what I've done and what I'm capable of and they knew that I would be able to push on regardless.
Speaker 1:But it's a fine line and it's a big sort of area of judgement where safety obviously has to be taken into consideration. And thankfully that's a call that sometimes I'm not as the swimmer, I'm not the best person to make that decision, because I think we're all, as athletes were is drilled into us to never give in and to never stop, no matter what, and sometimes that might end quite badly and we push ourselves too much and end up in hospital. So I think having some guys on the boat who know you well, know the limits and can throw in the white towel when it's appropriate, I think that's paramount because you know everything has to be done safely and it's the biggest. Yeah, it has to really come first.
Speaker 2:I, man, I was throwing up after, like I said, like a five 750 meter swim for my, we did a try, a tryathlon, and I was like man, that is not for me. So I just keep trying to wrap my head around how you like 20 X that distance and you've done that like almost 10 times, probably multiple of that, like I. Just I'm still flabbergasted. But the one thing I keep coming back to is, like you've got now all of this under your belt, what do you want to continue to do? Like you've got these Guinness World Records, you've got the Geo Bay Cool Water Classic coming up, but I mean you've knocked off Ocean 7, you've got the World Record. Like how do you move forward from this? And continue breaking down new opportunities, highlighting like where's your mind going with it now, or is it going back to accounting?
Speaker 1:Well, I can safely say it's probably not back to accounting, as much as I love it and I'm not bad with numbers, I suppose for me. Coming back to that, why, if I was to look at personal goals, I'm quite content with the things that I've done. Records, as nice as they are, they're not really what motivates me. Money, again, it's a nice thing to have, but it's not something that's pivotal or a major driving force for my decisions. I think purpose is a big one and using your skills in a way that can support good causes or help others, I suppose that would be the main factor in many of my decisions. So, yeah, there's local events like the Geo Bay Classic coming up and I'd love to do that to support a Western Australian event and do some swims with friends. But if I was looking at bigger picture and big challenges, it would be doing something that can really support an important cause.
Speaker 1:I mentioned ocean health and climate change.
Speaker 1:I can't speak to it too much, but there's a group over in Hawaii that want to do a major swim over there and bring in some of the world's best ultramarathon swimmers to create a team and to unite behind ocean conservation as a cause and then do challenges around the world over the next seven years up to 2030. And that's something that really excites me because there's a lot of people doing amazing things in isolation. I did this Ocean Seven challenge to raise awareness for our environmental health. There's guys like Lewis Pew, who he recently swum down the entire line for the Hudson River to raise awareness around ocean conservation and water cleanliness and so forth. But what happens when you bring all these guys together and pool resources and reach and take a united stance to support causes? I think that's something that's really exciting and special and, who knows, maybe it would lead to some marketing opportunities and we could actually do this for a living, where we can do something that's really exciting, where we do use our swimming to support important causes and help.
Speaker 2:Let's make that a goal. Here. I won't ask too many more questions because you said you can't speak too much about it, but I'm now going to be doing my research to figure out how we can get more of the people that are going to be involved in that project. Obviously, collaboration is key. We've seen it. That's what can make incredible movements on social media and I think if there's any way that I can help through the power of this platform that we've built, I want to continue doing that. What you're doing is incredible.
Speaker 2:I think I've said it probably 12 times now, but I want to make sure that we do what we can to support your efforts. So we'll have to talk offline about that and make sure that we get some details whether we need to be in Hawaii highlighting all these incredible individuals upcoming to it. We will get some sponsored dollars behind it and make sure that your efforts are recognized worldwide. I'm just thinking out loud here. How long do you think you could go in the water here Under ideal conditions? Because you're going England to Scotland 12K sorry, 12 degree water, 35 regular body temp In ideal temperatures. How far do you think you could go, andy Donelson?
Speaker 1:It's a great question, dave. I'd love to have a crack at a 24 hour swim at one point and see what kind of distance I could rack up For perspective. The longest swim I think the longest non-stop swim was Sarah Thomas, an American swimmer absolutely phenomenal swimmer in person, and that was 100 miles, so 160 kilometers. She did that in one of the lakes in Arizona, so that's the longest unassisted swim, I think. Obviously there's the movie that's come out recently, anna Nyad swimming from Cuba to Florida.
Speaker 1:But there's some amazing athletes out there in the swimming world. You look at things like mountaineering and kayaking and so forth, skiing. They feature heavily in terms of like documentaries on Netflix, but swimming seems to be left a little bit behind. I wonder why? Because I think it's probably one of the biggest participated sports in the world swimming Most people can swim.
Speaker 1:So I wonder if it's got its best years ahead and hopefully I'm right and hopefully more people will get involved in open water. I think that's been something that I've seen since the beginning of COVID more people getting into wild swimming and open water swimming, because pools were shut down and that was what was accessible. I think it's only going to grow and hopefully again, I've been using swimming to raise awareness around mental health, but I also want to promote the sport and show the best aspects of it and show the impact that it can have in being a Maristian community. How much of a difference that makes too, because for me in this last year, these swims have been great, but the biggest takeaway for me has been the incredible people I've met and the friendships made. That's certainly been my highlight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we definitely saw more of it down under With the fitness level in general. Honestly, I was really impressed at Australia as a whole, whether we were in Brisbane, down on the Gold Coast, in Sydney, in Tasmania. It's a fit continent, if I can say that. People are outside obviously getting vitamin D properly. They're out in the water swimming, they're meditating on the walks. It was cool to see I mean coming from Scotland, for you must have been a bit of an adjustment.
Speaker 1:I mean absolutely, dave. I think you fit the nail in the head. Obviously the weather makes a big difference, especially coming from Scotland. Things aren't weather dependent, but I think there's just such a healthy and active lifestyle here.
Speaker 1:Here in Western Australia we have an island called Rocknest which is 20 kilometres off the coast of Perth. If that was an island back in Scotland, it would just be an island off the coast of Scotland. Here we have two annual swimming races out to it, a 20 kilometre long annual swimming races out to it. You've got about a thousand swimmers every year doing these events. It's just like that would never happen back in Scotland. Through summer there's almost like a, I'd say there's probably two open water swimming events every weekend or triathlon events or running events. I think that reflects through that grass roots level and the amount of participation. It has a knock-on effect and other people are encouraged to get into sport and be part of community. Then if you were to look at the pointy end of sports with the Olympics Australia only has 25 million people but regularly end up quite high on the medal stable at the Olympic Games. Look at the swimming they're probably the second best swimming nation on the planet after the US, if not sometimes ahead of them. It's just amazing, isn't it?
Speaker 2:It is. We were enamoured by the entire country. Tasmania in particular was something special. You bring up the Olympics. Does that sit in the back of your mind there, with what you've been able to accomplish, the mental fortitude I'm sure that you have now talking about the fact that you're faster than some of the Australian dolphins on the proteins. You're putting up numbers that I'm sure in the back of your minds. Is that something that you still would pursue? Consider at least.
Speaker 1:That's an interesting question. You asked me a few years ago whether I felt quite unfulfilled about my swimming career before I got into the ocean, seven and all these things. I probably would have said yes, but I can't change the past. If I look back, I did give it my best, so I've got a different perspective on things. Yes, obviously I would love to race at an Olympic Games or race internationally for Great Britain or Australia I'm also an Australian citizen but at what cost is it a priority For me? I'm actually really enjoying the swimming I'm doing now. I'm enjoying these ultra-marathon swims. I'm enjoying travelling and the opportunities to raise awareness and support worthwhile causes. I probably won't change that. I'd like to stick it this path that I'm on because I'm just really enjoying it. I think it's probably a chapter that's closed and something I wouldn't revisit unless given a really good reason to Dude.
Speaker 2:that's so cool to hear, though, because most people, myself included, would love to suit up and be able to go through an experience like that, but you've been able to seek it out and do these incredible feats without having to have that medal as an extrinsic motivator, and that's something that comfort and that level of you've mentioned being content. People spend their whole lives trying to get to that point, and you've got it. Now. It's going to be incredible to be able to witness what you do over the next few decades as you continue these incredible feats. I also like to give people a little space to talk about what they have done, where they'd like people to spend, showcase, go through, seek out, maybe donate funds if they're able to. Before we wrap up with our staple last question, is there anywhere or anything that you'd like to highlight here, andy, specifically?
Speaker 1:Well, I think, for anyone that hasn't seen it, go have a look at the Ocean 7, the journey there, swimming the world's toughest channels in the space of a year that was a really special thing. There's a lot of videos on my socials, so, andyswimming on Instagram and, like we were saying before, try to show all aspects of it, not just the highlights and everyone high-fiving at the end, but a lot of the struggles too, and for me, I feel there's so many good messages that came to the forefront in that year that might just resonate with people that look at that and might be exactly what someone needs to see today, someone that might be a little bit down or not having the best of days and understanding that you're not alone with that feeling. There's other people out there. These were the things that happened to us, and quite often it was having great support around that helped us through those moments. So, yeah, that would be what I'd say Just go, have a look and see if there's something that might help.
Speaker 2:I can say for sure that it does help. I went through your channel. I feel better having watched your stuff, having gone through my own mental struggles. We've talked about it on the show before. It's something that everyone experiences to some degree or another, and I think what you continue to do is amazing. I'm grateful to have come across your Instagram. It's been witness to what you've been able to accomplish over the past year in a bit Just insane world records. Andy Donaldson, the way we wrap up every episode of the Athletes Podcast, as you know, as we ask our guests what their biggest piece of advice would be for the next gen and I'm sure you've got a mountain of wisdom. Having spent 63 plus hours in the Ocean 7 journey, plus many other hours swimming in the darkness, would you be able to grace us with a bit of what that wisdom might be today?
Speaker 1:I think my biggest bit of advice would be whatever it is you're targeting in life, support yourself with, surround yourself with, good people. Surround yourself with a strong support network, whatever challenges they get thrown your way. I think when you have good people around, you can find a way through and people that you can learn from, people that will be in your corner and that you can rely on. I think that's so important and the old adage you are a product of your surroundings. Surround yourself with good people and people that you want to be like. I think that would be the biggest thing that I can suggest, whether that's a sport or any pursuit in life.
Speaker 2:Wise words. Surround yourself with good people. Andy Donaldson, thank you for coming on the show For people who want to learn more about his stuff. I highly encourage you to check out his platforms. It's amazing. Even if they want to talk, you're open. Your DMs are open. My DMs are open. Right, I think there's always a space and for anything you're going through, it's better to share. Send that message, make sure that everyone's listening and there's opportunities out there to doing absolutely astounding things when you set your mind to it, clearly, as Andy has shown. Thank you again, man. I really appreciate it. I'm going to follow along your journey up until 2030. Here, where we've got something going. We're going to highlight some of those incredible people you're working with and hopefully bring you a bit more joy so that you can continue doing this and avoid that accounting for a little bit longer, despite the good masks you showed off, dude.
Speaker 1:David, it's been an absolute pleasure. Really, thank you for having me on. I'm sure this will be. I'm sure our paths will cross in person at some point soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, we're going to make it happen, and I want to also like you share. Who were those inspirations growing up? I didn't ask you during it, but you mentioned a couple of people in particular. Open the floor there. Any one or two people that you want to shine light on that really inspired your journey outside of your grandfather? I guess that you already mentioned.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it would largely be members of my family David, my mother and my father, my older sister, hannah even when she does embarrass me on my social media my cousin Graham, and my aunt and uncle Ronan and John. They've all been there for me through my life, through the highs and the lows. So, yeah, it's amazing to have these people around you that will support you through thick and thin and that you can learn from and be inspired by and hopefully, hopefully, I can continue that whenever I have kids one day, or even just to people through my social media that I might be able to help in some small way.
Speaker 2:I have no doubt you will. Andy Donaldson, thanks for coming on the athletes podcast.