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A trio of Wicklow friends whose families have been affected by cancer recently completed the extreme ‘Freezbrury’ challenge, taking an increasingly longer dip in the sea every day in February to raise almost €6,000 for Arklow Cancer Support.
Fuelled by their love for sea swimming, life-long pals Conor Byrne and Conor Dunne from Arklow and Thomas Hogan from Conary set out to test their physical and mental endurance by getting into the sea at The Cove in Arklow over the 29 days of February, adding a minute to their dip with each day that passed.

In total, the lads spent 435 minutes, or over seven hours, in the sea throughout the challenge.

Braving sea temperatures as low as seven degrees, the three friends followed the rules of the challenge to the letter, submerging themselves to their upper chests for the duration, and their heads fully at least once.

This is the sixth year of Freezbrury in Kilkenny and it is growing each year as Claire Hynes explains.

“Freezbrury which is in its seventh year involves dipping in cold water whether it be river, sea or ice tub for every day in February but the date decides how long we spend in the water. So it’s one minute on February 1 and 29 minutes on February 29, thanks to this being a Leap Year.

“Alongside the daily dips we are also organising a monster raffle which is being supported by many local businesses so we can really push to raise as much funds as possible for Amber Women’s Refuge,” she said.

It’s 6.50am on a cold, dark Thursday as a crowd of swimmers swap their woolly hats and coats for swimming togs at the Forty Foot in Dublin.
Many of them are there to support Robert Young (24) as he jumps into the sea for his latest dip as part of a “Freezbrury” challenge to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society.

Participants in the annual challenge, dreamed up by Galway adventurer Damian Brown, go for a swim in the sea, a lake or a river every day in February, adding one minute each day. On day one, they submerge themselves for one minute, the next day it is two, and so on.

On Thursday, Robert spent 22 minutes in the water after leaping off the rocks. He was joined by 15 of his friends, many of whom also work at accounting firm EY.

Some jumped in and stayed the course, while others lowered themselves gingerly into the sea and managed to remain there for just a few minutes.

Robert, who grew up in south Dublin, is a regular sea swimmer, but he would not normally go for a daily dip in the winter.