A keen swimmer from Douglas has decided to turn his hobby to support a good cause.

Richard Leach is setting himself the target of swimming three challenging open water events during the course of the year.

Usually the 45-year-old former investment manager from Derby Road confines his swimming to the indoor pool, but this year he’s practising hard ahead of his first event, the Great North Swim, on June 11.

’I’m swimming the three challenges in support of the spinal charity Aspire,’ he said.

’Anyone who suffers a spinal injury is eligible for support from Aspire and as they do not have a unit in the Isle of Man, patients are flown to the UK to use their facilities there. The charity helps people to continue their normal life as much as possible and reintegrate them into society.’

He said the genesis of the project was three years ago when, having gone self-employed as a Microsoft computer specialist, he decided to spend some time getting fit.

’I started going swimming and taking some lessons at the NSC,’ he said.

’Then I got involved in the Aspire swim the channel challenge, where swimmers raise money by completing the equivalent distance (around 22 miles) in stages in their local swimming pool.

’I ended up swimming 88 and a half miles and raising £2,325. So this year I decided I needed a new challenge, hence the open water swimming.’

Part of his inspiration comes from a fellow NSC swimmer who uses a wheelchair to get around.

’I know he simply fell over one day in a car park, so it shows how easily a spinal cord injury can happen,’ he said.

The Great North Swim takes place in Lake Windermere and covers 3.1 miles. Just two weeks later, he’s off down south to take part in the Henley Classic which is a 1.3-mile swim upstream in the River Thames. This takes place early on the morning of Sunday, June 25, and covers the Henley Regatta course.

’It is a swim in one of the most famous and beautiful stretches of open water in the world, at dawn. A key feature of the event is that you arrive in darkness and walk the quarter of a mile to the start into the sunrise, led by the torch carrier,’ he said.

Finally, after a little more recovery time, September 2 will see him again head to the south of England for the Solent swim (of two and a half to three miles, depending on tides) to Ryde sands, in the Isle of Wight, from Fort Gilkicker.

In preparation he’s currently swimming two miles - or 128 lengths - each day.

If you would like to support Richard and Aspire, then donate online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rtlswim2017