But ironically instead of receiving a heroes' welcome the Hampshire police team found themselves in trouble with their French counterparts, as the continental cops – flics in French slang – ticked them off for illegally cycling around the famous Parisian landmark.

Luckily the exhausted officers quickly talked themselves out of a ticket, laughed the matter off, and then got on with the job of celebrating their remarkable achievement which has raised £10,000 for the Naomi House Children's Hospice, based near Winchester.

Sergeant Mike Sizer-Green, who masterminded the ambitious triathlon, said: 'We are really proud of the team's achievement and the massive amount raised for Naomi House.

'We knew this would be really tough at times but the team worked amazingly well.

'Considering we only came together as a team for the event on the day everything went better than I anticipated.'

Sergeant Sizer-Green took on the mammoth challenge with four other Hampshire Constabulary colleagues – Fareham Chief Inspector Steve Wallace, PC Gemma Sizer-Green, PC Mark Little and senior analyst Holly Crane.

The team covered more than 250 miles, from London to Paris, in just three days.

But their journey didn't go without its problems.

Their swim across the Channel, which started at night, was hampered by strong currents, cold night air, and fatigue and sickness among the swimmers.

Chief Inspector Wallace said: 'After swimming one third across in relay we reluctantly decided that we could not continue due to safety reasons and we made the difficult decision to end the swim there.

'We therefore decided to do nearly all the bike leg together to make up for it, rather than relaying.'

Just two days later though the officers made up for the problems when they swam three miles between Boscombe Pier and Bournemouth Pier.

Now the team are back at their day jobs and reflecting on their fantastic achievement.

Holly Crane said: 'This was a brilliant challenge which pushed everyone to achieve their goals.

'It was great to be part of such a fantastic team and to raise so much money. Roll on the next one!'