A Donegal woman overcame a thunderstorm and treacherous currents to become the first female to swim from Tory Island to the mainland at the weekend.
Ms Anne Marie Ward (36), from Port-na-Blagh, had to contend with torrential rain and a thunderstorm during her non-stop eight-hour swim.
She set off from Tory in reasonable conditions at 12.30 p.m. on Saturday, but from early on it was clear that the odds were stacked against her.
Gusting winds and choppy seas in Tory Sound, which is one of the most treacherous stretches of water in Europe, forced her to dig deep into her reserves within the first two miles of the 10-mile swim.
She then had to cope with torrential rain and, having fallen behind schedule, had a particularly tough hour battling against strong currents. To compound matters, with less than two miles left she had to battle against a severe thunderstorm.
"It was very tough," she acknowledged afterwards. But she added: "At no stage did I feel I was going to quit."
Her route had been meticulously planned by Mr Henry O'Donnell, one of only two other people to have previously completed the swim. While the forecast had been reasonable, there was no advance warning of the thunderstorms or torrential rain.
"During the thunderstorm, visibility became so bad that we had to use compass points and navigational equipment to chart her course," he said.
"We had prepared for the unexpected, but this made it extremely tough for her.
"The conditions were very bad. The weather can change so quickly and is very localised, but therein lies the Tory Challenge," he said.
Ms Ward's hectic training schedule, which has seen her swim over 750 miles since last September, appeared to pay off.
Large crowds gathered at Magheraroarty Pier to greet her arrival, but for many onlookers it had been an anxious wait.
Originally, she had been forecast to arrive at around 6 p.m., but this time was revised on several occasions, and she finally made it ashore at 8.45 p.m.
As well as fulfilling a personal ambition, Ms Ward used the occasion to raise funds for the Donegal Hospice and Friends of Letterkenny Hospitals.
Despite the ordeal, she departed for Tory late on Saturday evening when a special ferry service took her back to the island for a party that was held in her honour.