“I’ll never put myself in that position again.” Spencer Matthews completes swim in sub-zero Antarctic waters

Posting photos of himself looking frozen and with prominent goggle marks while wearing a thick wetsuit with neoprene hood, Spencer Matthews has finished the brutal swim portion of his extreme triathlon in Antarctica.

Taking on the 3.8km swim in sub-zero water is a feat that not many have achieved, but the former Made In Chelsea star revealed earlier on Instagram that it isn’t a position he will put himself again.

Cold waters and dangerous wildlife in the area including Leopard Seals have made this the highest risk element of his PROJECT SE7EN challenge to complete seven iron-distance triathlons on seven continents in under 21 days to raise money for St James’ Place, a charity set up to prevent male suicide.

Facing his fears

In his latest post, Matthews revealed how much the swim scared him.

“I can’t tell you what this one means to me…. Easily the most dangerous element of the entire challenge and probably my greatest fear of the last nine months. Thoughts of swimming in freezing water for nearly two hours in an area know for its dangerous wildlife have woken me on numerous occasions and caused me quite considerable worry.

“I can’t believe it’s now behind me… I’ll never put myself in that position again. Thanks to my incredible team for the support.”

In the photos we can see that Matthews wore a thick dive wetsuit with gloves and boots and hood to protect against the brutal water temperatures, as well as a large mask-style set of goggles – most likely in an attempt to keep the cold water off as much of his skin as possible.

Bike, then run

Next up Matthews will face the iron-distance bike and run in conditions which will hopefully make completing the challenge possible, although the start had to be put back two hours this morning due to blizzards.

It’s expected the challenge in its entirety will take Matthews and his support team 30-plus hours to complete.

Lead image: Stone Visuals UK