Ironman Andrew takes on his toughest challenge yet to honour Dad's memory

A hospital worker who has treated gunshot wounds and competes in Ironman events with Gordon Ramsay has taken on his toughest and most personal challenge yet.

When Arthur Jones died in 2017 from complications following a car crash,  his son Andrew lost not just his dad but his best friend and coach too.

Arthur was a veteran swimmer who was well-known and respected in his home town of Carmarthen and beyond.

So Andrew decided to take part in an epic swim that would both honour his father’s memory and raise funds for charity.

Arthur, who was aged 84, served with the RAF and then spent 34 years as a swimming teacher in Carmarthen Leisure Centre. He was a founder member of Carmarthen Swim Club and designed its logo.

Then in January 2017, Arthur and his wife, Andrew’s mum Patricia, were involved in a car accident.

“Dad had a ruptured aorta. It was repaired in Morriston Hospital and he survived the operation,” said Andrew.

“But there were complications and he needed another operation but sadly he didn’t survive that one after months of problems. He passed away in Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen.

“It was a huge shock. He wasn’t just my father, he was my best friend as well as my coach. He touched the lives of so many other people too – it was a massive funeral.”

Andrew is an operating department practitioner, with an interest in pre-hospital and emergency medicine.

He works mainly in Morriston’s burns and plastics centre and theatres, and is a clinical tutor in Swansea University Medical School.

Andrew has also undertaken voluntary work in Uganda, including treating gunshot and stab wounds, and training in Caesarean sections.

A former rugby player and a keen endurance sportsman, he was selected to join Gordon Ramsay’s GR100 Ironman team in 2015, raising money for the Gordon Ramsay Foundation.

  Andrew Jones and Gordon Ramsay

Andrew says he and the Michelin-starred chef are now great friends who will be competing again in 2019, while Gordon Ramsay’s family and coaching team in London have provided invaluable support.

His fitness regime certainly paid off when he took on a very special new challenge as a tribute to his father and to raise money for charity.

It involved swimming from Glangwili Hospital, starting in the River Teifi, continuing into the River Towy and ending in Llanstephan.

“Dad said in hospital that when he was better he would go to Llanstephan and enjoy a BLT sandwich on the beach.

“He never made it. So my plan was to do it for him and to turn a negative into a positive.”

The swim started at 12.30am on October 18th – exactly one year since Arthur passed away – in the River Teifi as close as possible to Glangwili Hospital’s intensive therapy unit.

“After 4km the Teifi joins the Towy and converges at the Witches Cauldron, a very dangerous place that has claimed more than one life.

“Dad swam in the Towy when he was growing up. It was his playground.

“I swam past the quay in Carmarthen, under the famous bridge that Dad used to dive off, and passed my mum on the quay.

Andrew swam from Glangwili Hospital to Llanstephan

“The swim continued to Llangain and beyond, passing the boat club. After five hours and four minutes I arrived at Llanstephan Beach.

“The total distance was 23.7k. I had only swum 5k previously and 750 metres in the Towy a fortnight before as I became ill before the swim.

“I was delirious at the end and shockingly low on energy. But I had made it.”

Andrew described the support he had received locally, from his friends and team in London, and from his kit sponsors, as immense.

He is raising money for the Vascular Society – but more than that, he has completed his own personal tribute to his beloved father.

“It was an amazingly emotional journey that beats anything I have managed to achieve previously.

“It was cold and demoralising but I made it for an incredible man, and it was worth every tear and drop of sweat.

“I never thought of stopping because Dad would never have stopped.”