A NEWPORT accountant led a team of five swimmers across the English Channel to raise thousands of pounds for St David's Hospice Care.
The quintet of swimmers, spearheaded by Gary Parker, completed the gruelling 21-mile swim from Dover to Calais in 16 hours, 21 minutes.
They are now on target to raise £20,000 for the charity.
The swimmers trained all year at Lydney’s Bathurst outdoor pool, the flooded quarry at Tidenham, near Chepstow and also in the sea off Barry and Penarth.
Mr Parker, along with Kath Lewis, Kara Williams, Dawn Lee, and Keith Leslie swam in relay, each spending an hour in the water at a time.
Mr Parker, of Parker & Co Accountants, Newport, said: "We’re absolutely elated at what we have achieved both for ourselves in terms of completing the challenge and also for St David’s Hospice Care.
"The conditions weren’t great. We were all sea sick, the tankers and cross Channel ferries were daunting but perhaps worst of all were the huge shoals of stinging jelly fish which caused us a number of problems.
"The girls had some nasty incidents with the jelly fish and I was lucky to escape them."
Kris Broome, St David’s Hospice Care Director of Fundraising and Lottery, said: "This is a truly fantastic achievement from the team.
"We can’t thank them enough for all the effort that they have put in over the weeks and months to prepare for the challenge and to have been able to raise so much from their efforts for St David’s."
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