An athlete is pleased to end his competing season for the year with a haul of trophies, medals, and personal bests.

Hexham's 'Ice Viking' Fenwick Ridley is pleased to put his feet up (but not for too long)  after successfully competing in six ice events around Europe and UK.

Reflecting on his awards, the swimming coach said: "I am so chuffed and powered by my recent ice swimming events.

"I have competed in GB Champs 2022 to the World Champs 2023 in January then on to GB Champs 2023 and Holland then Austria.

"I was pleased to finish off in Scotland last weekend for the Scottish Winter Champs, where I managed to beat my 450m time from 2022 by nearly 10 seconds with 7 min 14 seconds earning me Gold in age group and 50m front crawl which I got silver.

"Overall it has been an amazing experience and I found myself pushing through exhaustion and going up against some of the best ice swimmers.

"So far in international competing, I have loved Austria the most, at Wörthersee Ice Swim event.

"This is an official IISA International Ice Swimming Association event (IISA) in Wörthersee lake in Krumpendorf and where I managed to break all my times in 4.9°c water temperature.

"Through my training and what I have been achieving in the low temps at my stunning lake H2oTrails in Sweethope, this was going to be a mile I knew I would achieve with ease."

Despite all the achievements, Fenwick is still looking to break more records, even world records.

He adds:" I have been looking to pass 3k under 5°c, but these distances can only be ratified starting with a mile before attempting bigger under IISA rules.

"So my ice mile was awesome and with nice flat calm 4.9°c water which I did in 30 minutes, normally I would do a lot quicker but for any record attempts it has to be pool setup as this was a course layout. 

"The world record in the age group is about 25 minutes and my current 1k is about 15 minutes, so it's not going to take me 10 minutes to do the extra 600m.

"So I have my heart set on breaking some personal bests but also some age group world records.

"I have beaten my world championships numerous times now, so I'm going to switch up my training to beast mode. 

"I know I can do even better than this and also I know I can destroy those times even more.

"I aim to shape myself more and push the short course racing even more now," he said.