Winners of the Liffey Swim in Dublin announced as over 400 people take the plunge

Crowds watched on for the Jones Engineering Dublin City Liffey Swim, which has become known as the “All Ireland Final of the sea swimming season”.

Aisling Callery from UCD won the women’s race and Simon Murray from Guinness Swimming Club won the men’s swim.

Up to 406 men and women raced from Rory O’More Bridge, beside the Guinness Brewery, and finished at Custom House Quay in front of the historic Custom House, a distance of 2,200 metres.

The traditional culmination of the Leinster Open Sea Calendar of sea races is a series of 25-30 races run over the summer months in partnership with local Leinster clubs.

Swimmers from Leinster must complete four qualifying swims from the Calendar to qualify for entry to the Liffey Swim.

This minimum-race requirement bolsters attendance at the club races and generates a lively and exciting swim race series.

It takes swimmers under 12 Liffey bridges; Rory O’More Bridge, James Joyce Bridge, Liam Mellows Bridge, Father Mathew Bridge, O’Donovan Rossa Bridge, Grattan Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Ha’penny Bridge, O’Connell Bridge, Rosie Hackett Bridge, Butt Bridge and the Loopline Bridge.

The unique Leinster Open Sea handicapping system allows for competitors of all ages, abilities and nationalities; with teenagers pitting their strength against swimmers in their 70s and 80s.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, James Geoghegan, started the race and presented the historic Liffey Cups to the winners at the finish. These historic cups carry the names of all previous Liffey Swim winners since its inception in 1920.

Each swimmer in the 104th Liffey Swim received a copy of the silver Olympic medal won by Jack B Yeats in the 1924 Paris Olympics for his painting of the 1923 Liffey Swim.

This was the first Olympic medal won by the new Irish Free State. The painting now hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland on Merrion Square.