A father-of-two who has raised more than £15,000 taking part in endurance events has embarked on another challenge.

Matthew Dawson, from Rickmansworth, has been preparing for a triathlon in Wales where he has been joined by five friends.

They are tackling a 27 mile kayak, 220 mile cycle to Snowdonia, and climbs of all 15 peaks above 3,000 feet in Wales.

The triathlon, which kicked off today and ends on Monday, is in aid of Access Sport which is a charity that tries to make sport as inclusive as possible, including for disadvantaged and disabled young people.

As a trustee for Access Sport, Matthew has raised over £15,000 to date taking part in challenges such as triathlons and completely 1,000 burpees in 10,000 seconds.

Joining Matthew in Wales will be his friends Richard Patterson, Graham Nye, James Sylvester, Andrew Buckman and Jolyon Canlin.

Matthew, who works as an IT director and passionately believes sport can change lives, said ahead of his latest endurance triathlon: “I’m really looking forward to #ChallengeAccessSport. I have done lots of endurance events before but this one is going to be especially challenging because the different disciplines and distances involved mean the volume of training needed is huge.

“And just to make it that bit more challenging, when we're at our most tired, we'll have to navigate the tough terrain of the Welsh mountains. I’m expecting it to be hard, but it’s been great to see other people getting on board. That’s going to spur me on when it gets tough. Together I hope we can make a real difference to the lives of disabled and disadvantaged young people.”

Access Sport chief executive Helen Rowbotham said: “Today, far too many disabled young people and young people from under-served communities are missing out on the benefits that come with being able to participate regularly in community sport.

“At Access Sport, we are determined to change this. We hope that that our new campaign #ChallengeAccessSport will inspire people to take on an active challenge to support our work this year.”

Find out more about how to get involved on the Access Sport website