Maura Twomey

Maura Twomey

2025 Event Honoree

After ten years teaching elementary school, Maura moved to the U.S., worked for a community organization in Gloucester, then Boston, earned an MBA, and began swimming in pools for exercise and stress relief. She soon progressed to outdoor swims, participating in fundraisers for breast cancer and local charities like the Provincetown Swim. On her 50th birthday, she swam Alcatraz, and the challenge inspired her to join a masters swim team and open water groups to become a stronger swimmer and set ambitious goals. In 2013, at 55, Maura visited Ireland and three things came together: she attended a conference of goal-driven swimmers, remembered a childhood dream to swim the English Channel, and learned her niece’s son with Cystic Fibrosis faced infection risks at the clinic in Cork. Motivated, she contacted a coach in Cork to train for the English Channel while raising funds for the Cystic Fibrosis clinic. Over two years, friends supported her training in pools and open water, often in harsh conditions. In July 2015, at 59, Maura swam the English Channel in 16 hours and 23 minutes, raising €32,000 for the Cork Cystic Fibrosis Clinic. In September 2023, at 67, she completed the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan in 9 hours and 19 minutes, despite record-breaking rainfall.