SCHOOLGIRL Lily-Mae Evans completed a gruelling 24-hour challenge to raise money for her local swimming club.

Lily-Mae, 12, completed her 24 in 24 Challenge on Sunday night, having run 1km every hour for 24 hours. She is helping raise money for Basingstoke Bluefins, and started at 7pm on Saturday night, finishing at 7pm on Sunday.

The club is raising money to help them recover post-Covid. They are looking for much needed funds to help with buying equipment and to keep providing a much loved swimming club.

Lily Mae, from Sherfield-on-Loddon, attends Sherfield School and is also a member of Wessex Wyvern MPC and competes internationally in Modern Pentathlon.

She has previously won two silver medals and a bronze medal at the UIPM World Championships.

She has also been a finalist at the Basingstoke Sports Awards for two-years running.

She is hoping that competitions go ahead this year and is training hard.

Lily-Mae’s mum Amanda Evans said: “I am very proud of Lily-Mae. She came up with the idea of the challenge herself and wanted to do her bit for the club.

"It was a tough challenge and the early hours were hard - but she is so resilient and determined and just got on with it."

“She trains with the club five-times-a week, so she is really passionate about her squad."

“There is lots of other fundraising going on by the club and some fantastic rewards on offer.”

For more information, click here.