On Friday 20 February, Waris Mills joined as a guest speaker for the High School assembly. Bringing forth her bubbly positive personality, she shared with pupils and staff her most recent sporting achievement – the HK360 Swim. She undertook this 45 kilometre swim around Hong Kong island in November 2025. She not only broke the record for being the youngest to participate, but she also broke the time record by 2hours, completing it in 10:35:58.
Waris spoke about her preparations for the event, embracing the notion of ‘If an opportunity presents itself, you need to take it’. She had a year to prepare, mostly relying on training sessions in a swimming pool; with her longest open water swim occurring a mere month before her scheduled date (much to the amazement of those in the training group!).
Needing to begin swimming at 2am due to heavy boat traffic in the harbour, Waris shared that she was swimming in the dark for 3hours before the sun rose. The water conditions were choppy, with the bright lights reflecting upon the water. To combat the cold, she drank tea – quickly abandoning her planned eating plan every 45minutes; thus showing the importance of adaptability. Since endurance events are often 80% mental and 20% physical, Waris overcame this literal and figurative darkness by recounting previous life challenges that she had overcome. She described the sunrise as the “best moment” since it mentally made a huge impact when she could make eye contact dad who was on the observer boat, and her friend Madison who was paddling next to her.
She shared that Madison and her had a hand signal system in place to determine for example when Waris wanted food, or extra ‘love’ from her friend. Waris also explained that she did not want any update on her progress as she did not want to feel any extra pressure.
Waris shared that there were several rules and regulations in place such as not being allowed to do it in a wet suit, only being allowed to take one painkiller, and not being allowed to even touch the kayak / observer boat. Waris recounted the story of wanting a painkiller when she was at the halfway point but due to a comedy of errors where Madison dropped the one between her legs on the kayak, and then Waris dropped the one into the ocean due to her extreme tiredness and lack of focus. The observer’s role was to check she followed the rules, and as proof that she did indeed complete it. Another rule was that people were allowed to join her in the water but they could not swim in front of her and were only allowed a maximum of one-hour stints (and only every three hours). She shared that two memorable swimming partners were her dad, and friend Brett – the one who had initially inspired her to embark upon the challenge, who had faith in her capabilities.
During the last 3km, she thought about people who played a role in her life. When she finished, she couldn’t smile or talk since her mouth was swollen and she was feeling disoriented. However, she couldn’t stop crying, especially once someone brought out a South African flag and she was told she’d broken the record. Waris said that she was overcome by emotions, and said she felt like she was born again; feeling both relieved and satisfied.
Reflecting upon the event, Waris explained that this was a chance to conquer her fears although she believes she still hasn’t conquered the sea as she didn’t look down for the entire 10hour journey – always fearing “something is gonna chow me”. She also shared the importance of having people that believe in you; and you need to have the mentality to go for it. “So much in life, you think of others and compare yourself to others. Sometimes you gotta do things for yourself and think about what you can learn,” said Waris.
