As a successful athlete, with three world titles to his name, Neil Rutter should have his name in lights. But he doesn’t.

The reason being that he’s a world champion of bog snorkelling.

For the past three years Neil has risen the ranks of bog snorkelling athletes as he made a name for himself swimming along a 60-yard trench of bog water.

He even holds the world record for bog snorkelling, 1 minute 18 seconds, and has yet to be beaten.

Neil, a teacher at St Joseph’s College in Swindon, said: “It’s totally daft. I love things that are a little bonkers, so swimming up and down a freezing murky bog using ‘unconventional swim strokes’ appeals to my silliness.”

The art of bog snorkelling involves exactly what you would expect. The swimmer needs to swim the, often freezing cold, bog without using traditional swimming methods. Not to mention the extra addition of having to breathe through a snorkel throughout the laps.

Neil added: “It’s pretty awesome to be a world record holder. My girlfriend recently was the big spoon in a world record line of people spooning at Wilderness Festival, so I guess we’re a family of record breakers.

“Sadly, my record didn’t make it into the Guinness Book of World Records last year, but I do have a Guinness certificate en route.”

Despite his current success, Neil is sure that the world record will escape his grasp soon enough: “It’s beatable for sure.” He added: “A good club swimmer maybe with a solid butterfly kick could beat it. It’s all about the kick and dealing with the cold.

“But can they deal with the cold, the bog life and the fact that you must stay on the surface, breath through a snorkel and avoid conventional swim strokes? It’s just nice to have played a part in moving the record along.”

As it is not a traditional sport, Neil often has to explain why he's interested in it, but he says it's been on his radar for a while: "I saw it on a 'and finally' section on the news about 14 years ago at Uni.

"I was a swimmer at the time, turned to my friend and said we should totally have a go. We didn't, and 12 years passed before we finally went to celebrate his birthday.

"I bounced off the bog trench walls all the way and could barely catch my breath.

“My friends and family aren’t surprised I’m into the sport. It just sums me up i guess. I love a silly challenge and they know I’m daft.”

Being a teacher is Neil’s second passion and his students don’t seem to mind he’s a bog snorkeller, he said: “When they find out, I’m met with a mix of surprise and confusion.

“To be honest, I could be Sir Chris Hoy, draped in Olympic gold medals, and I’d still never be cool in their eyes”