A swimmer finished a three-part open water challenge in style this weekend, finishing top British male in his age bracket at a swimming festival between Europe and Asia.

Mick Helps completed the last of three of Europe’s toughest swims on Sunday, July 23, when he crossed the 6.5-kilometre Bosphorus Straits – part of the continental boundary in north-western Turkey – alongside swimming partner Mark Pollard.

Mick, from Long Down Lane North, had previously swam the eight-mile Gibraltar Straits between Europe and Africa in May 2016, before taking on the English Channel in both directions while battling high winds that dragged him so far off course he ended up swimming more than 90 miles.

After competing alongside 2,200 other swimmers in the annual festival in Turkey, Mick said: “This has been a wonderful adventure inspired by a very sad event and I have been moved by the interest from far and wide.”

A keen swimmer since childhood, Mick had taken to the indoor pool at Epsom District Swimming Club as well as in Shepperton Lake near Staines to prepare for the warm-weather swim.

From September 2016: Epsom swimmer Mickey Helps takes on two legs of English Channel to raise money for British Heart Foundation

The Epsom District Swimming Club Masters Swimmer had ended up unconscious in the water about a mile off the south coast of England while taking on the English Channel last August.

He added: “I would like to thank everyone for their support, but in particular my wife, Dawn, for whom the journey has not always been easy to watch."

Mick has raised more than two-thirds of the £12,000 hopes to raise for the British Heart Foundation in honour of his friend.

He chose the charity after his former water polo captain and long-time friend Mark Shepherd, 53, died from a heart attack in January 2016.

Mick had told the Epsom Guardian: “I’d like to help with whatever I can give to the British Heart Foundation and to keep Mark in everyone’s memories.

“I know his family still miss him. He’s such a big character.”

For more information, and to donate, visit thehelps.co.uk