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Lily Canter

“Youth is overrated” is a mantra empowering open water swimmer Edie Hu to break records at 50 years of age.
On November 20, the Hong Kong art dealer set off from the Disneyland Resort Pier to circumnavigate Lantau – Hong Kong’s largest island – in a tandem swim with friends Simon Holliday, 46, the founder of the Splash Foundation, and Brett Kruse.
They were all attempting a world-first: no one had managed to circumnavigate the island before.
A 12-strong support crew spread across a sailing boat, kayaks and a safety RIB (rigid inflatable boat) set off with them for the 65km (40.4-mile) swim. Together, they were racing the tides as much as the clock.
“This has been a long, long time in the making,” says Hu, who started open water swimming a decade ago and has already swum the English and Catalina channels and around Manhattan Island.

It was the longest swim she had ever attempted, just two weeks after a 45km crossing of Hawaii’s Moloka’i Channel. On November 7, she became the first woman to complete the crossing from Sandy Beach on O’ahu to Moloka’i Island, finishing in 16 hours 9 minutes.
Hu’s latest chapter of endurance feats began not at sea but in a hospital bed in April.
“I had my appendix out around my 50th birthday,” she says. “I was in the hospital, thinking about what I wanted to do to mark this year since I’d missed out on having a party.”
She had already been eyeing the Moloka’i Channel, but shark incidents briefly made her reconsider. Lying in the ward, she reached a turning point.
“While I was in the hospital, I was like, ‘You know what? Screw it. I’m doing it.’”
From there, Moloka’i became the dress rehearsal for Lantau, proof that her body at 50 could not just cope with, but thrive on, ultra-distance swimming.

But the pressure was on from the very first Lantau stroke. The navigator warned that if the trio dropped below 1.3 knots, they would be in danger of missing the right tides and swimming against the current for a long time.
Water temperatures of around 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) meant that, according to marathon swim rules, they could not wear wetsuits. Hu, thankfully, could rely on her natural insulation to battle conditions that remained far from warm.
“As a female, I carry a little bit more body weight. I have a higher tolerance of cold. I was just wearing a normal one-piece swimsuit, cap and a pair of goggles, earplugs and a nose clip.”
Feeds came every 45 minutes, with Hu relying on a tested mix of carbohydrates and protein.
“I take maltodextrin powder mixed with an amino protein powder and another vegan powder that’s pineapple flavoured. It’s boring as all hell, but I just take it and stick with it as I know it won’t upset my stomach.”
Eight and a half hours in, the delicate balance of the Lantau trio broke. Kruse became hypothermic, cramping so badly that “he was screaming in pain because he couldn’t rotate his body”. Despite painkillers and cramp shots, he had to stop.
After night had fallen, fatigue hit Hu hard.
“I started to get very sleepy about 10 o’clock. And I’ve never had this before where I dozed off while swimming and I was sort of nodding off.”
She had planned caffeine shots for after midnight, so when the drowsiness came early, her crew did not have them prepared.
In that limbo, Hu began to see things that were not there. “I started hallucinating. I saw Yoda on the mountain.”
Finally, around 12.30am, the crew handed over the caffeine she had been begging for.
“It really just suddenly pulled my whole swim together. My arms kept moving, and everything started to come together again,” she says.

As dawn broke and familiar islands came into view, her mood lifted. Nearing the finish, she even found a final gear.
“I had enough energy at the end to actually sprint it. My stroke rate actually got faster. I don’t know how I did it.”
Holliday reached the pier first, becoming the first person to complete the circumnavigation, in 20 hours, 56 minutes. Hu arrived half an hour later as the first woman to complete the swim, in 21 hours, 28 minutes.
If Lantau was a gritty, uncertain grind, Moloka’i felt almost charmed. Hu describes mirror-flat conditions and a spiritual experience.
Before the swim, she received an ancestral blessing that washed away all her nervous energy.
Out in the channel, seven small fish appeared beside her, swimming with her for five hours. To Hu, they represented her family members – mum, dad, brother, sister-in-law and their three kids.
“I realised they were cheering for me.”

For Hu, these swims are not a defiance of age so much as proof of what long-term endurance training can do.
“I luckily have felt like my energy levels are higher as I get older. I am in menopause, but I don’t have very many symptoms. I’ve been able to sort of stave it off and keep up the energy levels.”
As she reaches the next phase of her life, she feels like her endurance is increasing.
“Older athletes get overlooked. And I think we’re doing things that a lot of these younger guys can’t do,” she says.
“Some of the best endurance athletes I know are in their sixties, and they’re an inspiration to me.”
Her own training reflects quiet accumulation: on average, she swims around 40km per week, rising to about 65km depending on her training. Preparing for the Lantau swim was “more swimming than I have ever done in my life”.

Hu runs Southside Swimming, the open water club that first drew her back to the sea.
The group has grown into an inclusive community, with swimmers of different speeds and abilities, and Hu hopes her achievements help nudge members towards bigger goals.
“I really do think it’s never too late, particularly to swim, because it is less impactful on the body. But you have to start off small. It’s taken me 10 years to get to this point.”
Now, as Hu recovers from Lantau with a temperamental stomach and pressure sores on her nose from hours of wearing a nose clip, she is already looking ahead.
“I’m trying to do as much as I can, while I still can.”
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First woman to swim around Hong Kong’s Lantau Island defies her age

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Hu poses with fellow swimmers Simon Holliday (left) and Brett Kruse while training for their swim around Lantau Island. Photo: Instagram/edieswimshongkong

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Hu emerges from the water after her 65km circumnavigation of Lantau Island. Photo: Amy Miao

Hu treads water under a rainbow near Ala Moana Beach Park on Hawaii’s O’ahu island. In November, she became the first woman to swim across the Moloka’i Channel from O’ahu to neighbouring island Moloka‘i. Photo: Instagram/edieswimshongkong

Hu holds the Hong Kong bauhinia flag after completing the 45km crossing of the Moloka’i Channel. Photo: Instagram/edieswimshongkong

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Lifestyle

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Open water swimmer Edie Hu shares how 10 years of endurance training helped her swim the 65km circumnavigation and set another record


Open water swimmer Edie Hu shares how 10 years of endurance training helped her swim the 65km circumnavigation and set another record.


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Swimming

Hong Kong

Water sports

First woman to swim around Hong Kong’s Lantau Island defies her age

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Open water swimmer Edie Hu shares how 10 years of endurance training helped her swim the 65km circumnavigation and set another record

Open water swimmer Edie Hu shares how 10 years of endurance training helped her swim the 65km circumnavigation and set another record