Cancer survivor’s return to Mount Maunganui ocean swims inspires group

Kevin Allott, age 78, has had surgery due to lung cancer, and swims with a group around Mauao three mornings a week. Photo / David Hall

At 78, Kevin Allott has every reason to slow down. He’s lost around 45% of his lung capacity to cancer and has lived with prostate cancer for nearly three decades.

Yet three mornings a week, just after sunrise, he wades into the water at Mount Maunganui with six to 10 fellow swimmers – mostly in their 60s and 70s – for a one-hour-20-minute circuit of Mauao.

“I had the prostate out 28 years ago, then the cancer came back about 15 years ago,” Allott said.

“Radiation hasn’t fixed it, so I’m on hormone treatment for life, but it looks like it’s starting to fail, unfortunately.”

A routine PSMA PET scan – an imaging test that detects prostate cancer anywhere in the body – revealed abnormalities in his lungs.

“Had I not had prostate cancer, they would never have found the lung cancer because I had no symptoms.”

During the past three years, Allott had undergone several lung surgeries, most recently the removal of his upper left lobe five months ago.

“I wouldn’t go out through the surf now – I couldn’t hold my breath going through the waves,” he said.

He struggled to swim even one pool length after lung surgery this year.

“It was swim a length, walk a length, and slowly build up again.”

Last week, he finally returned to ocean swimming.

Ocean swimmers Murray Deam, Warren Blundell, Alfredo Adler, Bronwyn Burmister, Paul Champion, Anna Ormsby, Kevin Allott, and Torstein Sandoy. Photo / David Hall

Fellow swimmer Torstein Sandoy said Allott was “a good example for what you can achieve if you want to”.

He said Allott’s perseverance inspired the whole group.

“He’s had cancer hanging around for nearly 30 years, but he keeps fighting it off. His oncologist told him the best thing he can do now is exercise every day – use the endorphins to keep fighting the cancer.

“And he’s doing it. He’s nearly 79 and still swimming around the Mount.”

The group swims 7am Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, choosing their start point – Pilot Bay or Mount Main Beach – based on the tide. They stop at landmarks to regroup, share stories, “tell lies”, and look out for one another, emerging near Commons Ave before walking back to the Main Beach showers.

Many have faced their own medical challenges – hip replacements, breast cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer. Allott encouraged others not to put off medical checks.

“I’ve asked mates if they’ve had a check-up and many haven’t. Everybody should go.”

Fellow swimmer Murray Deam, 73, who joined in 2021 after his own prostate cancer diagnosis, said the ocean routine had transformed his health.

“I’ve lost 12kg; my arthritis has pretty much gone, and I just generally feel good.”