Aberfeldy woman Colleen Blair says proving people wrong inspires her to achieve greatness in long-distance swimming.
Colleen, who grew up in Muirhead, has been inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) for her exceptional achievements in the field.
The 44-year-old has completed a number of groundbreaking swims.
At the age of 20 she became the youngest person to swim the English Channel.
At the age of 30 she become one of the few to have swum the North Channel, linking north-eastern Northern Ireland with south-western Scotland.
And at the age of 40 she became the first person to cross the North Minch, conquering a distance of 25 miles from Orinsay on the Isle of Lewis to Rubha Reidh on the Scottish mainland.
The latter is arguably Colleen’s greatest achievement but she has done much more besides.
She was the first to swim Pentland Firth, the first to swim the length of Loch Tay and has circuited the entire 28 miles around Manhattan island in New York City.
And still she has plans for more big swims in the future.
“I love it when someone says ‘you can’t do that’, or ‘that’s impossible’, or ‘you’re crazy to even try’,” Colleen said.
“I like to prove people wrong and I like the challenge to show it is possible if you put your mind to it and put things in place.
“If you have the right team, training and conditions you can show that things that people say aren’t possible actually are.”
This feature tells the story behind Colleen’s incredible feats.
It began when she was ‘tiny’
Colleen’s entire personal and professional life has revolved around swimming.
She has mentored more than 1,000 swimmers since she was 14 and has always worked in the industry.
From her upbringing it is clear to spot from where this devotion stemmed.
Her parents, Bill and Irene, were both swimmers and she has been floating unaided since she was “tiny”.
Bill set up Muirhead Minnows swimming club as an attachment to the village school to give youngsters the chance to learn how to navigate water safely.
The club celebrated its 40th anniversary this year.
Tay bridges swim at 7
It wasn’t long before Colleen craved something more demanding and at just seven years of age she swam between the Tay rail and road bridges in Dundee.
Growing up she enjoyed swimming and water polo for Menzieshill Whitehall club in Dundee.
But her heart was in the open water.
As well as her father, she was inspired by Ian Reid, who swam the English Channel in 1975, to take on the biggest challenges.
She also had swimming in common with her sister Shannon, now 48, who herself has swum the channel.
Dedication to the sport
Colleen managed to juggle her outdoor exploits with a solid education in the sport.
After completing a degree in sports coaching at Liverpool John Moores University she became a pool manager in Aberfeldy.
She was in the role between 2004 and 2015, when she took on her current position as Scottish Swimming’s regional development manager for the Highlands, Islands and Moray.
Her main objective is to support volunteers to run swimming clubs.
In 2021 Colleen was awarded an MBE for services to swimming, having also raised more than £25,000 for causes such as Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance, Asthma Research and the RNLI.
Pentland Firth first
Colleen’s achievements in the water have not been, excuse the pun, plane sailing though.
Her first attempt at the North Channel was when she was 18 but she was unsuccessful and it took another 12 years before she finally did it.
But a year later she swam Loch Ness and in 2001 completed the Manhattan circuit in 10 hours.
Another of her firsts was becoming the first person to swim the Pentland Firth from Orkney to mainland Scotland.
The route took her from Hoy to Scarfskerry.
“There were a few trying to be the first person to do it and I was lucky it came together,” Colleen said.
“It’s nine miles but that stretch of water – where the Atlantic and North Sea meet – has a bad reputation with tides.
“There are lots of shipwrecks and it is renowned for having bad currents so it is a very technical swim.”
Locals said it ‘wouldn’t be possible’
She says the Pentland Firth swim is a “classic example” of what motivates her to take on the most extreme challenges.
“I do like pushing the boundaries and that is why I am known most for,” Colleen said.
“A lot of the old fishermen and locals all said it wouldn’t be possible because of the tides and it being a dangerous stretch of water and there was a lot of concern about that swim.
“However, we knew where we needed to be at certain times.
“I always have a team with me.
“I am lucky because my dad goes on the boat and my mum is on the land to provide support for any issues.
“Ian Reid sometimes goes on my boat and we also try to get local boatman because they understand the water and have that knowledge, which is what makes things succeed.”
Sunrise in Los Angeles
Other memorable swims include the journey from Catalina to San Pedro in Los Angeles.
“You swim overnight and things go bump in the dark,” Colleen said.
“A sea lion went between my feet and a kayaker had to go down the side of him.
“Sometimes your mind can go to some bad places but the sunrise when I swam into Los Angeles was amazing.”
Another is the Scar challenge, a four-day stage race in Arizona of more than 41 miles.
Colleen has completed it twice.
“Everyone stays together, including kayaks,” she said.
“It is an amazing event.”
Stuck in the tide with 1.5 miles left
Colleen rates the North Minch swim in 2018 as her toughest yet.
Aided by a support crew that included her dad, kayaker Brian Wilson and a local fisherman she completed the challenge in just under 18 hours 46 minutes.
“The tides and currents played a big part in the difficulty,” she said.
“The temperature ranged from 9C to 14C.
“Unknown to me I had a mile-and-a-half to go for five hours – I was stuck in the tide.
“The South Minch – Harris to Skye – had been swum before but only in a wetsuit.
“But the North Minch hadn’t. We were right on the border of the north and south and there was a lot of panic about whether I would finish on the right stretch of water for what I was going for.
“Because of the distance and water temperature a lot of people said it wasn’t going to be doable but it is about making sure you have the team and support correct and do research on the tides.”
Family put under ‘stress’ by long swims
These accomplishments have required great sacrifice from Colleen, but she says her close friends and family are the real heroes.
“It can be quite lonely and I do long training swims when my friends are doing other things,” she said.
“Swimming is what drives me and I am lucky that I have had that support but I know some around me have made sacrifices for me to do what I do.
“Sometimes we are a bit selfish because of the stress we put on our families.
“For me, coming off the boat and getting a hug from my mum means the job’s done. I can relax and let what I have achieved can sink in.”
‘They don’t know whether I am crazy or sane’
Colleen will be inducted into the IMSHOF in New York in May next year.
She says it is a great honour “because you are voted in by your peers”.
As for the future, she has a simple message – watch this space.
“I am looking at a couple of swims that people have put a question mark on,” she said.
“They don’t know whether I am crazy or sane, or if they are doable.
“There are a few things in the planning.”
