Abriella Bredell, who is only 11 years old, set a record for being the youngest female to swim the seven and a half kilometer Robben Island Canal.

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Bredell who’s from Jeffrey’s Bay, set herself a goal two years ago to swim the cold waters from Robben Island to Bigbay to raise R2m for the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. So far Abriella has raised over R 131 000 on her Back-a-Buddy Campaign.  Early Friday morning (12 Jan 2018) the weather conditions were just right and she completed the challenge she set for herself of swimming the 7.9 km distance with two boats flanking her. Her father Pierre was on one of the boats cheering her on. It took her three hours and 20 minutes to swim the distance.

 “My goal is to swim the Robben Island Channel this December in order to raise funds for my favourite charity, The Red Cross Children’s Hospital”. She wrote in a Facebook post in 2017

Abriella has been swimming since she was two years old. She thoroughly prepared herself for this event, it took her two years of hard work and dedication, training fives time a week including a weekly 8km long-distance swim on Sundays and regular physiotherapy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd1t8pgnaJk/?taken-by=abriellabredell

Bredell stated that the reason why she loves swimming is that of her competitive nature. She enjoys swimming races against other people and improving her times.

“I like learning new things, keeping fit and taking care of my body. Swimming does all of the above for me,” She said

The biggest fear she had before setting out to break the record was not the sharks or rough seas, but rather the kelp and bamboo. Thankfully she conquered that fear right at the start of her swim. She went into the cold 14°C barefoot and without a wetsuit. After she completed her swim she was greeted by her mother Lauryn and about 200 other spectators as she proudly walked out the ocean and on to the beach with a new title of the youngest ever to complete the route.

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Watch the News broadcast of Abriella’s record-breaking swim below:

To donate visit her back-a-buddy site : www.backabuddy.co.za

To learn more about Abriella visit: www.abriellabredell.co.za

To find out more about The Red Cross Children’s Hospital visit:  www.childrenshospitaltrust.org.za

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