A British Indian schoolgirl of 16 has made history as one of the youngest to cross the notoriously choppy English Channel to raise funds for a charity fighting against childhood hunger across India and the UK.
Prisha Tapre, a pupil at Bushey Meads School in north London, was motivated by a family discussion about the English Channel to take on the challenge when she was just 12. After four years of training, she went on to complete the 34-km swim from the coast of Dover in England to Cap Gris Nez in France last week in 11 hours and 48 minutes.
“It was quite choppy at the start, but when the sun started to rise, I knew that the worst bit was done with,” said Tapre, reliving her mission in an interview from her home at Watford in Hertfordshire.
The swimming enthusiast, who describes the lake near her home as her “calm place”, used lots of meditative techniques and even felt a strange bond with the jellyfish that stung her along the way. The UK-born teenager, whose parents hail from Maharashtra, raised GBP 3,700 for her chosen charity – Akshaya Patra UK, the British chapter of the India-headquartered non-profit organisation with a mission to provide hot meals to children in need.
Now, having completed such a tough mission with the support of the Watford Swimming Club, Tapre is keen to focus on her new school term which began this month.
However, she remains determined to take on even bigger challenges even as she works towards a career in medicine, perhaps related to the field of sports.
