The father of Ella Mills, a Trinity student who died in a kayaking incident in the US, is aiming to break a world record in her memory.

Ralph Mills will be completing an ‘aquamarathon,’ a 26-mile run in a swimming pool, in Clontarf on August 25, with funds raised going to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

Ella, a 21-year-old from Dublin, was studying at New York's Columbia University as part of her English programme at Trinity College when she drowned in the Potomac River near Washington DC in September 2023.

On Lunchtime Live, Ralph said his daughter was a “brilliant kid,” taken too soon.

“She was smart and there was just so much about her,” he said.

“Some kids take a while to reveal their personality, but we knew exactly who Ella was and she would have done great things in the world, no doubt about it.

“She was doing the dual BA at Trinity and Columbia and had always wanted to live in New York, so everything in her life had directed to that point.”

Ralph and his daughter Ella Mills. Image: Supplied.

He said Ella was “about to realise her dream,” but the accident happened a couple of weeks before the course began.

“She was with the Whitewater Kayaking Society, and they went to a difficult stretch of the Potomac River that you need to know well,” he said.

“She came out of the kayak on a very rough stretch and was pinned under a rock. Despite the efforts of kayakers on the scene, she drowned.”

Challenge

Ralph said it was always his aim to complete a significant challenge in his daughter’s name.

“At the end of a swim, I usually do a few lengths running up and down to cool myself off and it was on one of these runs I was toying with the idea of doing something in Ella’s name,” he said.

“I thought whatever I did, it had to be significant, it had to be big, and I asked myself as I was running up and down, ‘Are there any world records associated with this?’

“So, I’m doing an aquamarathon, which involves running up and down a swimming pool for about 20 hours, 26 miles in chest-deep water.”

Rapids in the Potomac River at Great Falls, seen from Olmsted Island at Chesapeake. Image: Jon Bilous / Alamy Stock Photo

Charity Choice

He said choosing the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust was an easy decision.

“It’s the kind of organisation you don’t ever want to know exists but if you need them, they’re just incredible,” he said.

“Ella was actually fully insured as part of her programme, so we didn’t need it, but it was brought to our attention that if people are uninsured, the Kevin Bell service steps in and helps people finance repatriation.”

Ralph added that the aquamarathon world record had not been claimed yet, but Guinness World Records have given the go-ahead for the challenge.

He will begin the 26-mile run at West Wood Club on August 25, a year to the day from when he last saw his daughter and waved her off at Dublin Airport.

Donations can be made by visiting https://gofund.me/34d185e9.

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