Competitors grease up before a ten mile swim across Lough Neagh.
Three women and four men are taking part in the swimming race across Lough Neagh to Tyrone. To combat the cold waters of the freshwater lake, the swimmers are covered in grease.
An added challenge to racing in freshwater is the lack of buoyancy compared to saltwater.
Swimming veteran Jack McClelland of the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association organised the race. He has swum in races in Galway Bay, Donegal Bay and the English Channel and describes Lough Neagh as one of the great loughs of Europe. There are no other freshwater swimming races in Ireland but there are hopes to revive the tradition.
It's a classic swim, to swim either across it or diagonally the length of it.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 28 August 1980. The reporter is Cathal Mac Coille.
