A seven-year-old boy has braved the icy waters around his native Cobh, Co Cork every day for the last month with his sea swimming raising €3,445 for new sports attire for his whole school.
Hunter Halpin, who is a second class pupil at Gaelscoil Uí Éigeartaigh, was joined in the water on the last day of his monthly challenge by his teacher Declan O'Connell and a couple of the parents from the school.
His mother Clodagh said that about 60 people turned out to support Hunter this morning. She admitted that the poor weather this month was a "challenge in itself.”
However, Hunter was determined to plough on in order to honour his commitment. Clodagh says that the youngster enjoyed swimming even on the particularly dreadful days.
"We had a couple of days that were pretty bad (weatherwise). But he got up every day and said 'What time is the tide? What time are we swimming?'
"Whereas I often woke up and thought 'oh God I have to go swimming today.' If I was doing it myself I probably would have skipped some of those bad days and said 'oh I will do two swims tomorrow.'
"But he was adamant we were not missing a day and we didn't. There were days where the waves were coming up over the wall but we found a time when the tide was good or we moved to a different beach where it was a bit calmer. We always got our dip in."
Hunter was aiming to raise €600 to cover the cost of providing new singlets for the school. But now he has raised enough money for singlets, shorts and new equipment.
Cloadagh said that they never expected the fundraiser to travel outside the parents from the school. However, the determination shown by the plucky youngster has captured the attention of locals in Cobh.
"It is mad. We never thought for a second that it would go outside the parents in the school. And it just took off and we are nearly at €4,000 now. It is insane.
He got a heroes welcome back to the school today. They had flags and all out for him. We are so proud of him. There was mornings where I woke up and was dreading the swim but he was always determined to go. The school are blown away."
Cloadagh is extremely appreciative of the support they received as locals and friends and family often came to cheer Hunter on in particularly bad weather.
"It has been an experience. Hunter has two older brothers and an older sister and they did a couple of dips with him as well. His Nana Noreen came out every day to support him."
Whilst Hunter has completed his challenge Clodagh says he doesn't want to stop sea swimming.
"It could be a bit of a problem for me ! We will keep up the swimming. Maybe not every day but we will do a few high tide swims over the rest of the winter.
We pushed through and got to the end so we are delighted. I am sure he will be thinking of his next challenge soon."
Donations to the Hunter Halpin school fundraising appeal can be made at https://gofund.me/481becb8.
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