More than the treacherous English Channel, it's the sight of hungry, crying children that scares Prisha Tapre (16). Apart from her instincts to do something exceptionally great to prove herself, she dared to perform one of the most arduous feats to raise funds for a charity mission engaged in alleviating child hunger in India and the UK.
On September 4 Prisha Tapre, 16, from Watford in Hertfordshire swam 21 miles from Dover to Cap Gris Nez clocking a timespan of 11 hours and 48 minutes and became one of the youngest British Indian to accomplish the distinction.
Tapre's family had migrated to the UK from Maharashtra years ago. After conquering the Channel, she said she was finding it hard to believe if this is real or a dream. Tapre, who swims with Watford Swimming Club, said,“I can't believe I swam the English Channel. But, I'm happy about it," and added “this is just the start” of her swimming journey.
Tapre balanced her swimming training and studies quite assiduously. Every weekend, she dedicated six hours to training, sometimes that stretched to even 10 hours. She has been trained by her coach Jeremy Erwine. As to whose trait she believes she has inherited to display such unparalleled grit, she quipped instantly that it's that of her mother who, she says, never gives up in life. She added that her mom was an athlete when she was her age.
Tapre said that swimming de-stresses her and added it's like the only place where she could be calm and even during her GCSE exams. She said she used to go to the lake not for training but just to calm herself when she didn't want to worry about friends, schools, exams, revision and so on. According to her, everyone should have that one place where they could go to 'because without it you just have no peace.'
Tapre is happy to have raised over £3,700 for Akshaya Patra UK, a charity organisation in the country to end hunger and poverty among children in India and the UK. Besides, she wants to inspire Asian minority girls and strive devoutly for their cause. The youngest person to swim the Channel is Thomas Gregory who achieved the feat at the age of 11 in 1988.
