SWIMMING the English Channel is something most adults would think twice about but 10-year-old Maisie Smith has dived in to the challenge.

The pupil at Abbey Woods Academy in Berinsfield has set herself the target of swimming 1,967 lengths of the estate’s pool.

The challenge over 12 weeks, carried out at Abbey Sports Centre, which started on September 8, means she will have swam the distance between Dover and Calais once she finishes.

Maisie, from Berinsfield, hopes to raise hundreds for spinal injury charity Aspire through sponsorship after starting this month and is due to finish the challenge on December 1.

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She will join 5,000 people across the UK as part of Aspire’s Channel Swim 2014 challenge.

Maisie, who lives with her mum Tracy Bonner and dad Kevin Smith, said: “I did it because I like having a challenge, I just fancied doing it because I like helping people.

“It’s good so far, it’s not been too bad. I may swim the real channel one day.”

Her mother said: “The sports centre had this poster for the charity’s challenge, and Maisie just picked it up and said she wanted to do it.

“She already does swimming twice a week and martial arts so I think it’s a bit much.”

Her sister Amy McKnight, 24, said: “She could have done it in a team, but she wanted to do it on her own all by herself. She’s up there swimming lengths three or four nights a week, doing about 80 lengths a night.”

The Abingdon nanny said: “She’s already managed to raise more than £1,000, which is double her original target. She’s only 10 and she’s tiny, so I think everyone’s surprised that she’s doing it and has given money.

“We are very proud of her, and think she deserves some recognition for deciding to do such an amazing thing for charity.”

The charity provides help to people who have been paralysed through an injury to their spinal cord such as specially adapted houses and equipment.

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