Gaelforce Great Lake Swim, live.

Lake loops from Portumna on Lough Derg

The Gaelforce Great Lake Swim is an open-water swim from the Portumna Swimming Area in County Galway, close to the River Shannon and Lough Derg.

The 2027 swim is on Saturday 10 July and is the middle leg of the Gaelforce Great Swim Trilogy, between the River Swim on the Shannon in May and the Fjord Swim at Killary in September. Portumna is about 80 km from Galway city and 55 km from Athlone, and the swim area is part of a wider festival zone near Connacht Harbour, Portumna Bridge and the Portumna Blueway.

There are three distances. The 750 m is a short loop from the swimming area, designed to ease new swimmers into open water, with a 40 minute cut-off. The 2 km is a longer lake loop with 1 hour 30 minutes allowed, a good step up for swimmers who want time to settle into a rhythm.

The 3.9 km is the full Ironman swim distance and a real test. Swimmers must reach 1.9 km within 45 minutes and finish within 1 hour 45 minutes, and the organisers recommend a wetsuit. Wetsuit and non-wetsuit swimmers are welcome across the event.

Swimmers are advised to bring warm clothes for after the swim in a small finish line bag. Parking is available in Portumna, and spectators are welcome at the finish area by the swimming area.

On Livebib you can follow a swimmer live if they choose to share their own position from the phone they carry, for example sealed in a tow float. That position comes from the swimmer, not from the organiser's timing, and the official results are published by the organiser.