New Guinness world record: young Rockingham swimmer wins open water race

Guinness World Records 2024 ($47) has just been released with a new theme of Blue Planet. Readers will encounter the most bizarre and deadly sea creatures, coral reefs, kelp forests and the ocean’s most fearless competitors. There are also plenty of new and classic records to discover with topics such as rollercoasters, robots, movies and gaming. The cover is an amazing Where’s Wally type illustration that is packed with record holders.

With more than 30,000 applications received over the last year, only a small percentage - just 2638 records - have made it through the selection process. One is from a young Perth woman.

On page 122 you’ll find the record for the youngest person (female) to swim the North Channel. Fiona Cullinane, now 21, from Rockingham was just 20 years 253 days old when she swam from Northern Ireland to Scotland on September 19, 2022, a distance of 37km. This feat was just a couple of months after she swam the English Channel, a goal she set herself when just 11 years old. Both swims are part of the Ocean Seven, the seven toughest channels in the world to swim.

“The North Channel is considered one of the most difficult ones because of the (water) temperature,” Cullinane said.

“For my swim it was about 13 to 14 degrees and it’s also got some really dangerous marine life like jellyfish, and the currents can be really strong as well.”

Swimming across the English Channel took Cullinane 11 hours and 3 minutes. The North Channel swim was a “mere” 10 hours and 4 minutes.

For the North Channel, Cullinane had a support person on board the pilot boat who encouraged her the whole way.

“Nikki was amazing, she sat on the side of the boat the entire time and was waving and encouraging me the whole way,” Cullinane said.

“It’s good to have that emotional support as well as just being able to see someone as it is quite isolating being out in the ocean on your own.”

Cullinane is a national open-water medallist and trained for her channel swims in the Swan River each week during winter.

“Open water swimming is quite different to pool swimming as there is so much out of your control,” she explained.

“You can’t control the currents or the weather, so I find it really exciting and fun.”