A PONTYPOOL man has raised £15,000 for cancer charity with a series of cruelling and herculean endurance tasks, just five years after learning to walk again.

Thirty-four year-old Gareth Bridgewater completed a 45km ultra-marathon, an Everest cycle and other events to raise money for Velindre.

He wanted to raise money for the charity in recognition of the great service Velindre offered to his father David Bridgewater, who died from lung cancer nine years ago aged 60.

“It’s always something that I wanted to do to say thank you to Velindre,” said Mr Bridgewater, of Parc Panteg, Griffithstown.

“The original plan was to do something five years ago, but the accident I suffered meant I had to start all over again.”

The firefighter from New Inn’s Red Watch was struck by a truck in 2010, breaking his femur and tearing his shoulder ligaments.

After learning to walk again and returning to work, Mr Bridgewater decided to spend half of 2015 completing the epic fundraising expeditions for Velindre.

Over the course of six months, Mr Bridgewater participated in 10 events in total including an Everest cycle on the Blorenge.

“It was the equivalent to cycling Mount Everest, going up and down the Blorenge 27 times – which works out as the cruising height for a Boeing 737,” he said.

The fundraiser presented his cheque to Velindre last week and already is planned his next adventure – a 7,000km cycling time trial.

The distance is equivalent travelling from London’s Heathrow Airport to Calgary, Canada before he travels over to Canada for a 405km trail through the Rocky Mountains.

Mr Bridgewater will be travelling to Canada in September 2016, and will complete the time trial before then, which he believes will take around six months.

“I’ll start in around March time I believe – but I’ll need to take some time off in and around the school holidays to spend time with my kids,” he said.

Mr Bridgewater added that his eldest daughter is able to get her head around his exploits but it remains a mystery to his son and other daughter.

“They are proud of me, even if they don’t know what is going on,” said Mr Bridgewater.

“Unfortunately they did not get to meet their grandfather, so this is a way, I believe, of bringing them closer to him.”

To donate to Mr Bridgewater’s next fundraiser event, visit justgiving.com/garethbridgewater.