North Channel
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29
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4
EPISODES
4
PODCASTS
Search complete. 29 mentions across 4 episodes found for "North Channel".
Sep 8, 2026
Gráinne MossGUEST
I actually grew up right where that swim start.
Gráinne MossGUEST
When I'd done the North Channel, I thought, right, I've done three of the seven.
Gráinne MossGUEST
I wonder, could I do the other four? I've got to swim in the middle of, you know, big ocean in Japan.
Gráinne MossGUEST
You know, you kind of think, how the hell did I end up here? You know, that's what I've loved about the swimming.
Kyla ColbinHOST
She finished the last one, the Tsugaru Straight, in Japan this past June at the age of 56, 39 years to complete all seven.
Kyla ColbinHOST
Grania is also one of New Zealand's most senior public servants with roles including chief executive of Oranga Tamariki and her current role as CEO of the Ministry for Regulation.
Kyla ColbinHOST
In this conversation, we talk about the shocking realization that spurred her to complete that English Channel swim when she might have given up partway through, why she was elated the first time she failed to complete the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland but devastated the second time, and how ultramarathon swimming prepared her to face the public as chief executive of Orang Atsamariki.
Kyla ColbinHOST
So here you are, my conversation with Grania Moss.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
And you get to swim that with three other people, which was just a joy.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
And the North Channel, so Donagadie, Northern Ireland, to Port Patrick in Scotland, same distance as the English Channel, but colder and with lion's mane jellyfish.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
It was a disgusting swim.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
And the Cook Strait, so for me, that was South Island to North Island, which, you know, everyone in New Zealand just goes, that's just stupid.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
He didn't second guess me.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
And I think that margin for error compression allowed us to win a few particular moments that were really, really close.
Mark SowerbyGUEST
We discovered in one of those Q&As that at the nine and a half hour mark in the North Channel, I actually thought about getting out and he thought about pulling me out.
Shaun McCambridgeHOST
Yeah.
Rob LeaGUEST
It's about 30 miles.
Rob LeaGUEST
I had always thought that the North Channel was going to be the most difficult swim.
Rob LeaGUEST
That one's between Ireland and Scotland.
Rob LeaGUEST
And that was absolutely difficult.
6 MINS LATER
Rob LeaGUEST
And I know that there will be other challenges in the future.
Rob LeaGUEST
One of the swims I did, I thought this was really interesting.
Rob LeaGUEST
The North Channel, logistically, they were just fantastic to communicate before the swim and even during the swim and after the swim.
Rob LeaGUEST
One of the things they did is for each one of these, we have like a federation and a boat that we pay the boat pilot to take you across and included in that price.
Shona RiddellHOST
But for people who are listening, I'll just quickly list the swims, and then we can talk about them.
Shona RiddellHOST
So there's the North Channel, which is between Scotland and Ireland.
Shona RiddellHOST
There's the Cook Strait here in New Zealand.
Shona RiddellHOST
There's the Molokai Channel in Hawaii.
25 MINS LATER
Shona RiddellHOST
the world record holders and yeah.
Gráinne MossGUEST
[laughs]
Shona RiddellHOST
Swim, swim number three was the North Channel, and that was 2022, so quite a jump from the Cook Strait one.
Gráinne MossGUEST
Yeah.