Brian Gray is attempting to break the New Zealand record for a continuous swim by swimming 150km in the Waikato River.
Brian Gray is attempting to break the New Zealand record for a continuous swim by swimming 150km in the Waikato River.
Whanganui-born Brian Gray will attempt to break a New Zealand record for the furthest distance swum continuously by taking on a 150km challenge.
Gray, 53, has pencilled in his attempt on the Waikato River for February 20-23, starting at the Karāpiro Dam and ending at Port Waikato.
The ultra-endurance swimmer said the idea had first popped into his head after he completed his goal of swimming 55km around Waiheke Island two years ago.
Initially, he wanted to swim the Whanganui River.
“My dad just had this profound love of the history of the Whanganui River,” Gray said.
He said he typically attempted challenges on alternate years as they took him away from his family and required determination.
Gray is adopting the English Channel rules, meaning just togs, swimming cap and goggles are allowed, as well as conditions being in place regarding not touching the bottom or a support boat to rest and swimming freestyle.
The IT consultant has been training intensely for two years.
“I’m trying to swim about 55km a week, I’m exercising every day – I try to do [an alternating] hard day, easy day split,” Gray said.
Gray hoped he could complete his mission of breaking the New Zealand continuous swim record set in 2023 by Jono Ridler, who swam 100km across the Hauraki Gulf.
“I’m hoping that I don’t make a complete dick of myself,” Gray said.
“It’s part of the challenge of life. Everything is too much comfort, so this is about setting a really hard goal that is entirely possible [to complete].
“It has given me two years’ worth of striving and absolute focus. I think about it for hours every day for two years.
“If I do it I am in trouble, because – what’s next?”
Gray has been lent a boat by a Whanganui childhood friend and also has a separate feeder boat to accompany him and provide food every half-hour.
“The idea is you start in the afternoon while you are fresh so you can do the night-time before you are tired, and are also able to do the more easily navigable bits,” he said.
“You finish in the afternoon and you are swimming the last bit in the sun. It gets tricky at the end as the river is braided, so there are more hazards.”
Brian Gray (left) and observer Jan Steenkamp after the former's circumnavigation of Waiheke Island in 2023.
Gray grew up in Whanganui and moved to Wellington after finishing university in Palmerston North. He now lives in Auckland.
“I was born and bred in Whanganui, I love the place. I’d move back if I could,” Gray said.
He went to St John’s Hill School, St George’s Preparatory School and Whanganui Collegiate School, where he first started to swim competitively.
Gray swam in the Collegiate pool and at Lake Wiritoa.
He said he gained inspiration from a Collegiate teacher to challenge himself over long distances.
“There was this inspirational teacher, Rod Journeaux, who came up with this idea for a relay team of students to swim around Lake Taupō, then run and bike around it,” Gray said.
“I think that is what sowed the seed for the long-distance stuff. It showed what was possible.”
Gray finished his time at Whanganui Collegiate as the senior swimming champion.
He is trying to raise $10,000 for Starship children’s hospital.
“Swimming is quite a selfish sport. You are up early and disappear for half a day on Saturday and Sunday swimming, so because of that selfish nature, it is good to give back,” Gray said.
“I chose Starship because of the thought of kids walking around cancer wards and the effect that it has and the strain it puts on families.
“We have two kids, and the thought of something like that is enough.”
Gray has set up a page at www.fundraiseforstarship.org.nz to help him reach this goal.
