A LIFTON boy who has been swimming since he was two days old has smashed his own distance record to raise money for his school.

Freddie Bluett, eight, took off in the fast lane in the Olympic swimming pool at Mount Kelly Swim Centre in Tavistock on Wednesday last week (December 1), swimming 1700 metres in front crawl.

He was raising money for the Friends of Lifton Primary School, to be used to buy equipment for the chidren.

And swimming alongside him in the pool was his class teacher Sarah Davey, herself a very strong swimmer, who was hard pressed to keep up with the young swimmer.

Freddie’s dad Pete and mum Abbie were watching Freddie taking part in the swim, which was during one of his twice-weekly sessions training at the swimming centre, which is training the Olympic hopefuls of the future.

Dad Pete said: ‘As soon as he was in the water he was off.

‘The only reason he did stop was because his goggles were starting to rub on his ears.

‘It wasn’t because he had had enough, it was because his ears were hurting.

‘I think even the teacher was surpised when he got in the pool.

‘He suddenly took off and she was trying to catch him up – and she has been swimming since she was seven, she is really good.’

He said his son had done a charity swim before – and is planning another one next spring.

’He always wants to do something for somebody else,’ he said.

‘With budget cuts the schools are struggling to buy extra pens and paper and books and things like that, so he is raising money for that.

‘I think we are at about £360 at the moment but obviously the more we can raise the better.

‘He’s been swimming since he was two days old and he has swum every week ever since.

He is obviously swimming at Mount Kelly, they have always noticed him.

‘He swims with the group of 12-14 year olds on Wednesday nights and then he has a one-to-one session on Saturdays.

‘We are not pushing him, he does his own thing, but he is saying he is going to go to the Olympics and swimming is something he is really good at.’

There is still time to sponsor Freddie, see his fundraising page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/friends-of-lifton-school