THREE Gwent swimmers have raised more than £4,500 after swimming across the English Channel in memory of a friend who died from cancer.

Cwmbran’s Gareth Way, Dawn Lea from Monmouth and Leighton Coleman of Ponthir are hoping to hit the £5,000 mark before handing the final amount to the three charities of Velindre, St David’s Hospice and Help for Heroes at the end of month.

They swam the channel overnight in memory of ex-Newport and Maindee Olympic Swimming Club colleague Steven Lewis, who died of stomach cancer in December 2011, aged just 31.

In 12 hours 32 minutes, the trio have recorded the sixth quickest time this year. They found it so tough that former Commonwealth games athlete Mr Coleman, 40, said he had to drag himself up the beach to finish whilst suffering from cramp in his legs.

Mr Way, 36, an ex-Gwent 200m breaststroke record holder, said: “Only 10 per cent of people finish the challenge and I have a massive phobia of open water swimming so I wasn’t excited about it at all.

"When we arrived at The White Horse in Dover the night before, another group had to turn back after three hours and it terrified me thinking what we were attempting.

“It’s was tough and it was only 12 degree, four less than expected. Due to the weather we had a very narrow window as with the tide. Leighton suffered the worst out of the three of us as he got sea sickness and was being sick as he swam.”

Mr Coleman both started and finished the swim, they began at 11pn on Saturday June 18 on Samphire Hoe, Dover.

Mr Way added: “We were lucky to finish on a beach as you have to be completely out of the wash. It would have been a nightmare if we had ended up by a rocky edge like David Walliams and then have to navigate ashore. We also coated ourselves in Sea Safe to not feel the jellyfish, which was like sandpaper rubbing on your skin.

“It was important to finish as when I think of the measure of Steven, who had the strength whilst ill to apologise that he couldn’t make my own father’s funeral just months before he died, it makes the pain of this seem like nothing.”

The trio trained three times a week for 18 months in open water at the NDAC in Chepstow and several other places to acclimatise and prevent the risk of hypothermia. They attached glow sticks to their goggles to help night-time visibility.

Ms Lea, 53, said: “It was weird starting at night as your body is telling you that you should be going to bed and you must be mad. I’m amazed that we did it so quickly, we joked that it was because we wanted it to be over.”

To donate visit http://bit.ly/2bAIhuC.