A ROSSETT man swam 12 miles across the Straits of Gibraltar to start off his epic 1,500 mile triathlon across Europe.

Father-of-two Matthew Bennett is taking part in the Suck it Up Challenge in aid of the Prostate Cancer charity.

He was motivated to take part after his own father Martin was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer three years ago.

Former semi-professional rugby player Matthew acknowledges this was a difficult time for him to leave his family as his wife Anne gave birth to their second daughter about a month ago, but she fully supports what he is doing.

His swim across the busy shipping lane started at 6.30am on May 1, and took him five hours and 28 minutes to complete – the longest distance he’s ever swum.

He is currently a week into the 1,400-mile cycle through France and Spain, which he will follow with the long run from London to the North West of England toward the end of the month.

Matthew said: “I chose this challenge in particular as I wanted to capture the imaginations of as many people as possible.

“With the long distance cycle and the open water swim, I’m taking on activities that are very new to me and which, in the case of the swim, filled me with great apprehension.

“But I felt that for people to get behind me I really needed to make this a difficult personal challenge.”

Prostate cancer affects 35,000 men a year in the UK and one man dies from the disease every hour.

For more details or to support Matthew, visit www.prostate-cancer.org.