Two cardiac nurse specialists have raised more than £1,700 for a local heart charity by completing a month-long sponsored swim challenge.

Colleagues Helen O’Leary and Kath Whitehorn, who work at County Hospital, Pontypool, originally intended to swim a mile a day throughout October.

But a series of setbacks – including forgotten cossies and a pump breakdown that saw their local pool closed for five days – meant a change of plan.

Helens, who lives in Abergavenny, said: “We switched our goal to swimming 31 miles by the end of the month. So it was the same outcome, but we just had less time to complete the challenge.

"It was tricky, because during the week we had to fit our swims in before work. But in the end, we swam further – and faster – than we had for years: amazing! Kath reached her goal a whole two days early, and on the last day I had an easy swim of just 650m.”

The pair also smashed their £1,500 sponsorship target, with the money they’ve raised going to help fund the North Gwent Cardiac Rehabilitation and Aftercare Charity’s ongoing community-based cardiac rehab exercise classes.

Katherine, from Cwmbran, said: “We’ve been blown away by people’s generosity. We’d like to thank everyone who’s contributed. We’re delighted because this charity provides a really valuable service for people with heart conditions, helping them to carry on exercising safely once our hospital-based cardiac rehab programme ends.”

Helen said: "Exercise is a really important part of heart patients’ recovery and ongoing health, so it’s fantastic that we can refer our patients straight on to the charity’s community-based exercise classes. Without them, we know some people would regress.

“The charity currently receives no NHS funding for their work, so they subsidise the cost of classes through fundraising, donations and grants. Without vital fundraisers like ours, these classes would close. We’re just really pleased we could help – and mightily relieved we’ve achieved both the 31 miles distance and our sponsorship target in the time we set ourselves.”

Charity chairman Jacky Miles said: “This is an amazing achievement. Not only did they complete their challenge but they also raised an incredible amount of money.

"On behalf of our trustees and fundraising group I wish to say thank you. It means a great deal when two dedicated nurses take time out of their busy lives to raise money for us. We are a small charity trying our best to keep our service afloat.”

• If you’d like to add to Helen and Katherine’s challenge fund, there’s still time to contribute. Just go to their Just Giving page: https://tinyurl.com/mte69au3