ELEVEN-year-old Tyler Holland is raising money for the NHS by swimming the length of the Channel – in his back garden.
The keen swimmer's parents Leigh and Rebecca, who are originally from Chester and now living just over the border in Higher Kinnerton, have set up a 3m pool for him to carry out his ambitious charity challenge.
Tyler wanted to give something back to the NHS during the coronavirus crisis and came up with the idea of swimming the length of the Channel by completing at least a mile a day.
The former City of Chester Swimming Club member will need to do a total of 25,344 strokes – whilst being attached to a wall by a cord – to cover the 22-mile distance.
Tyler, who attends Castell Alun High School, started his gruelling challenge last week and has already raised more than £1,000 for NHS Charities Together.
Tyler Holland is swimming the length of the Channel - in his back garden - to raise funds for the NHS
He said: "I have decided to help our NHS heroes by swimming the English Channel in my three metre pool – water temperature around 13 degrees – whilst being tied to the wall."
His dad Leigh, who is originally from Lache and works at Airbus in Broughton, added: "Tyler is used to swimming about five or six times a week. He was a member of the swimming club in Chester between the age of four and 10, before joining Wrexham Swimming Club in the last year.
"He's done some land training during the lockdown but he said to me he really wanted to get back in the water and he wanted to raise money for the NHS.
"I told him to have a little think about what he wanted to do and then he came up with the idea of swimming the length of the Channel. He's gone in at the deep end with this one, excuse the pun!
"Through his swimming club we calculated how many strokes he would need to do and then set a target of one mile per day, which is about 1,200 strokes give or take.
"He's beating that at the moment and doing 1,700 to 1,800 strokes which is amazing because the water is pretty cold. We're very proud. He's already raised a lot and it was all his own idea."
To make his task that little bit more challenging, Tyler will complete an Olympic distance triathlon – 1,500km swim, 25-mile on a bike and a 10km run – on Saturday (May 23).
If you would like to make a donation visit Tyler's fundraising page at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/tylerholland29
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