Swimming 34 miles in any conditions is no mean feat. But doing it in a crocodile-infested river? That’s rather impressive, although for Andy Donaldson, it’s just another day in his life. The 35-year-old is, after all, an ultramarathon swimmer with multiple world records to his name. All that he does is swim, sometimes for charity and sometimes for fun. But his recent feat while breaking the course record is something else.

And yet, that’s exactly what Andy Donaldson did. He swam for 11 hours and 51 minutes in the crocodile-infested Ord River, from Lake Argyle Dam wall to the Diversion Dam. The Scottish swimmer was a little disappointed that he didn’t encounter a croc while swimming.

“I still have all my limbs,” Donaldson jokingly told AAP (via People). “I didn’t see a single one, other than the Crocs that my coach was wearing on his feet. I don’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.”

That isn’t to say he and his team didn’t encounter one at all. Just before they kicked off the race, a rather large 2.5m freshwater crocodile was waiting at the start ramp. But regardless of that, Donaldson leaped into the water and kicked off his longest-ever solo swim. More interestingly, the Ord River is estimated to have 5,500 freshwater crocodiles. And given its length, that would be around one reptile for every 10 meters he swam.

But judging by Donaldson’s words, it seems that the facts about freshwater crocodiles ring true. After all, as compared to their saltwater compatriots, they are said to be smaller and timider. So much so that they probably would have swum away the moment they sensed any disturbance. That is especially human disturbance, something that Andy Donaldson and his team attested to.

They had done plenty of research before the 35-year-old attempted the record. That allowed them to discover that, aside from the crocodiles, the river was teeming with other wildlife. That includes turtles, big catfish, kits, eagles, and a catalog of other animals.

It did make things slightly more nerve-racking for Donaldson, but he knew the risks going in. “It was a bit nerve-racking doing a swim in the open water,” Donaldson said, as per the Guardian. “There’s always a risk of wildlife. But in the same breath, people use that river every day recreationally.”

“They say ‘fear is a mile wide and an inch deep’ – the perceived fear is a lot bigger than it actually turns out to be.”

And as it turns out, Donaldson’s swim made him one of the bravest people on the planet. In fact, he’s one of only two swimmers to have ever attempted and completed the course. Simone Blaser became the first person to do it when she completed the course in 2024. Her record, and the former course record, was 16 hours and 13 minutes, which Donaldson broke by just over 4 hours.

About halfway into his swim, extreme heat and fast currents began to affect Alan Donaldson. Not just physically, but mentally as well. “Mentally, I was fatigued, physically, I was fatigued,” Donaldson explained. “I’d been sweating for over 10 hours, and I think I was quite dehydrated, so my muscles were starting to cramp really hard.”

But in the end, everything turned out well, and as he neared the finish line, local swimmers swam the final stretch with him. And as he crossed the line, Andy Donaldson became the first man to finish the challenge, although that doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Dam to Dam challenge is the latest mission accomplished by Andy Donaldson

After all, as it turns out, Andy Donaldson is an ultramarathon swimmer. He regularly competes at this level, completing extremely long courses in record times. That wasn’t how it started, though, as Donaldson aspired to be an Olympic swimmer. But after failing to make an Olympic team, he retired from professional swimming in 2016 and moved into the corporate world.

It marked a challenging period for Donaldson, as he struggled to find his path. So much so that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he even became a volcano guide. But it was his return to swimming, four years after retiring, that helped transform his life again. And then he won the Rottnest Channel Swim in 2021, before winning again in a 25km swim in Sydney. That sparked something, and Donaldson hasn’t looked back.

He announced his goal to complete the Oceans Seven challenge in just a year in 2021, a feat that would make him the first person to do so. For the unversed, the Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge that features seven open-water channel swims. That includes the North Channel, the Cook Strait, the Moloka’i Channel, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel, the Tsugaru Strait, and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Donaldson didn’t just break the world record; he shattered it. He finished his challenge in 355 days, demolishing the previous record that was 2 years and 60 days. Not only that, but his cumulative time was the fastest ever. But while Petar Stoychev may have since broken his total time record (173 days), it’s not Andy Donaldson’s only world record.

His Cook Strait run remains a world record, and he is the first man to complete the 220 km circumnavigation of Maui. He did it in just under two weeks before going on to circumnavigate Manhattan Island for another world record. Donaldson finished the nearly 46 km swim in well under six hours, a feat that hasn’t been matched since.

And in doing so, Donaldson added yet another extreme feat to a résumé built on pushing limits others wouldn’t dare approach. For him, the crocodile-filled Ord River wasn’t a reckless gamble, but simply the next line to cross in a career defined by going further than anyone else.