A Cook Strait Swim For Ovarian Cancer

Nick Edwards, a deputy principal at Ahutoetoe School in Milldale, Auckland, is planning to swim across The Cook Strait / Te Moana-o-Raukawa in March and has partnered with Ovarian Cancer Foundation New Zealand. His tide window begins on 7th March with the weather hopefully playing ball.

Whilst Nick has some extensive experience with open-water swimming, having swum the full 40.2 km length of Lake Taupō and also circumnavigating the 26 km around the Pacific Island of Bora Bora (both in 2023), he says that this swim will be one of the biggest challenges of his life. The Cook Strait is around 26 km in a fairly straight line but most people swim between 30-40 km in the cold, harsh conditions with a whole host of mental and physical hurdles to overcome. Successful swims can take anywhere between 8 and 12 hours depending on the conditions on the day! The swim will be held under marathon swimming rules with the only equipment allowed being swim shorts, a pair of goggles, and a swim cap. He’s not allowed any floatation support, to get out to rest, or even hold onto the boat for a break. He’ll feed every 30 minutes after the first hour on gels and warm drinks.

The Cook Strait isn’t just any open-water challenge either, it’s one of the Oceans Seven (a swimming version of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge). This means it is one of the most iconic and challenging swims in the world. Two tidal flows meet in the Strait and create swells that have taken numerous ships down over the centuries. More people climb Mt Everest every year than have ever swum the Cook Strait!

Nick says that he is passionate about exploring his own boundaries and inspiring himself and others to continue to take on risks. For this event, Nick has been inspired by a colleague who is suffering from ovarian cancer and explains, “I thought I would use this opportunity to do some good in the world so have partnered with Ovarian Cancer Foundation New Zealand to raise money for research and support that will really make a difference.”

He wants this swim to raise awareness of an often underreported on, underresearched, and underfunded cancer. He understands that not everyone is able to contribute to this kind of campaign but if there this is something that you can donate, here is his fundraising information:

https://showup.ovariancancerfoundation.org.nz/nick-edwards

His final message is that he wants everyone to wish him luck with final preparations, with the swim itself, to donate to the campaign, and just talk with each other and normalise promoting checks for your health and wellbeing!

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