A Newcastle Emlyn personal fitness trainer is undertaking a ‘unique’ 12-hour Gym and Swim challenge at Coracles Country Club, Cenarth, on Friday in aid of Cardigan’s Oxygen Therapy Centre.

David Maund, 37, will alternate hour-long stints on cardiovascular machines in the gym with hour-long swims.

“I am taking on this challenge to help raise awareness of the Oxygen Therapy Centre in Cardigan, which needs vital funds to keep providing a valuable service for the people of West Wales,” he told the Cambrian News.

Earlier this year it emerged that the future of the charitable-run centre on the Pentood Industrial Estate hung in the balance and needed around £40,000 a year to keep going.

David has in the past regularly tackled tough endurance tests to raise funds for local causes.

“This will be a unique challenge,” he said. “It’s fantastic what they do at the Oxygen Therapy Centre – that is why it is so important to keep the facility going.

David, who expects to lose around half-a-stone during the challenge, said it was the monotony of the swimming pool he was dreading the most.

“I know it’s going to be hard,” he acknowledged.

Cardigan Oxygen Therapy Centre provides hyperbaric therapy for adults and children in Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.

People with MS, autism, cerebral palsy, MND, rheumatoid arthritis and many others, as well as fractures and tissue damage, can all benefit from the therapy.

Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/12hourgymswim