MAKING A SPLASH

INSPIRED BY HER LATE FRIEND TO 'DO SOMETHING' FOR STRUGGLING TEENS, THIS AUSSIE IS SWIMMING UP A STORM

- By Emma Levett

The tentacles splayed across Ashleigh Webb's face, causing immediate, searing pain, but she took a deep breath and batted the jellyfish away.

The burn continued, but the 35-year-old kept her strokes steady, slicing through the water. Jellyfish stings were all part of the challenge as she battled on in the 21-kilometre Fastnet Rock swim in Ireland this July.

She completed the popular ultramarathon swim in a world-record time of four hours and 57 minutes - the second person ever to do it in under five hours. And this was just the warm-up! “It was intended to shake off my nerves about the upcoming Do Something Swim fundraiser, when I will swim the [17 km] Dál Riata Channel from Scotland to Northern Ireland,” she says. “I do fear I may have peaked too soon.”