\u2018It was just magical\u2019: Andy Donaldson completed the swim in under 12 hours. Photograph: Ben Broady<\/p>\n
Fortunately for the 35-year-old, freshwater crocodiles are smaller and more timid than their saltwater counterparts \u2013 the world\u2019s largest reptiles \u2013 and unlikely to approach humans.<\/p>\n
Donaldson\u2019s team had done its research beforehand and he never felt threatened by the wildlife surrounding him, which also included eagles, ospreys, kits, cormorants, darters, turtles and big catfish.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bit nerve-racking doing a swim in the open water,\u201d Donaldson said. \u201cThere\u2019s always a risk of wildlife. But in the same breath, people use that river every day recreationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say \u2018fear is a mile wide and an inch deep\u2019 \u2013 the perceived fear is a lot bigger than it actually turns out to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always a bit of a rush with adrenaline if you see anything when you\u2019re in there or if you touch some seagrass or anything, but I didn\u2019t actually see anything during the swim at all. It was a largely by-the-book swim.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, safety comes first. We\u2019re not putting ourselves intentionally in harm\u2019s way. If there is anything that looks threatening, we pull the pin because we want to be smart and we want to use these challenges to share positive messages, not negativity and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2998.jpg\")
British Australian athlete swims 55km in WA\u2019s croc-filled Ord River to set world record \u2013 video<\/p>\n
Having successfully navigated the course, finishing in front of hundreds of people lining the banks of the river in Kununurra, he posted a record time of 11 hours and 51 minutes, bettering the mark set by Simone Blaser, who was the first person to complete the swim with a time of 16 hours and 13 minutes in 2024 \u2013 and was part of Donaldson\u2019s support crew on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Donaldson said he was \u201cover the moon\u201d to complete the swim.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just magical \u2013 swimming through these ancient gorges, the red cliffs, the sunrise was just spectacular out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity to swim in amazing places all around the world, like Hawaii, Greece and Croatia. But I would have to say, hands down, this is the best swim I\u2019ve ever done. It\u2019s the most beautiful place for swimming I\u2019ve ever experienced. It was just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting in darkness at 5.38am, Donaldson was able to set a good pace in the early hours of his swim, until the searing Kimberley sun pushed the mercury as high as 34C and prompted support boats to try to provide shade for him.<\/p>\n
A lack of salt \u2013 and therefore reduced buoyancy \u2013 in the freshwater complicated matters further.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when you start to fatigue, your hips drop and your body position isn\u2019t as good, so you feel like you\u2019re dragging the legs a lot more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An unexpected headwind and a section of \u201cdead water\u201d \u2013 where there is no current \u2013 made things even trickier, but with the support of his sizeable team he made it to Swim Beach, 6km from the township of Kununurra, by 5.29pm.<\/p>\n
Donaldson\u2019s Dam to Dam Challenge swim adds another record to his name. Photograph: Ben Broady<\/p>\n
As he neared the finish line, local swimmers joined him in the water for the last 200 metres.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese challenges, they\u2019re never achieved alone,\u201d he said. \u201cYou always have a skipper, a paddler and your coach out there in the water, people that know the river systems well so that you\u2019re in safe hands, you can navigate those challenging sections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team, the energy and the encouragement pick you up when you start to falter. These marathons are similar to the marathons of life where, if you want to pursue something, a dream, or go after big goals, you can go a lot further when you have great people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scotland-born, Perth-based athlete is considered one of the world\u2019s leading ultramarathon swimmers. He holds a number of world records and in 2023 became the first person to complete the notorious Oceans Seven marathon swim challenge<\/a> \u2013 comprising seven ocean channel swims \u2013 in a single year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Donaldson and his team were aware of the dangers that lay ahead, but just in case a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-416167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}