Swim for Cyclone Gabrielle

Primary Care Acting Manager in Commissioning, Mike Howard, along with three others, recently completed a marathon swim to raise over $12,000 (and counting) for people affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Mike is part of a group of friends who are keen ocean swimmers, marathon runners and overall legends who decided to each tackle an ultra-marathon swim (an open water swim of more than 10km) to raise money for those impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Mike is a former cyclist who took up swimming after suffering four serious concussions over three years, including one instance where he found himself in hospital unable to walk or talk.

After swimming more than 1,100 km during 2022, Mike completed the 40.2km – or 1,608 lengths of a standard pool swim across Lake Taupo in 16 hours 31 minutes. This was the equivalent of swimming Auckland to Waiheke Island and back to Auckland non-stop, plus a bit more (with no wetsuit, as per English Channel marathon swimming rules).

Lake Taupo is one of eight great lake ultra-marathon swims in the world – known as The Still Water 8 and Mike is one of 80 people in history to complete it. Asking him how he was feeling post-swim, Mike said, “Swimming the maximum 40.2 km length of Lake Taupo was a personal challenge for me. Both physically and mentally. After suffering a series of concussions, three years ago I decided to take up ocean swimming again as part of my recovery. The cold water was magic, but at the start, I couldn’t go 500m without panting. If someone said I’d be able to do a solo ultra-marathon swim three years later, I would have laughed. It seemed impossible, but I set a goal, I developed a plan to achieve it and I worked hard.

During the swim, I had to overcome some difficulties. My stomach started playing up during the second hour, which led to some unhelpful thoughts. My coach quickly got me back on track, but I was off solid foods for about the next four hours. Pain started to settle in around the 17-kilometre mark, and although painkillers helped, I did the rest of the swim in continuous pain. I kept on telling myself, today is my day. Turn that pain into power and push through. I can’t come back and complete this tomorrow, so it’s now or never. At the end, I had very, very sore shoulders and arms.”

Mike found a crowd had gathered by the time his swim came to an end.

“I was grateful to have about 50 people cheering me at the finish. This was the day before IronMan, and a group of triathletes from Wellington and Auckland came down to welcome me in. One top Wellington triathlete told me afterwards, my swim inspired them during their event. I’m usually on the other side of that type of conversation, so it was very special.

I was also asked if I sept well that night. In truth, I had a terrible sleep. My arms and shoulders felt like they were on fire and I had maxed out on pain relief. However, the pain goes away, and the positive memories remain.”

So how is Mike feeling now?

“A mixture of still being very tired, but very proud of what I did”, he says.

Congratulations Mike, from your Te Whatu Ora whānau, and from the many people who will benefit from the funds raised. Ka pai!