BEST friends aged nine and 10 embarked on an ambitious watery challenge.

Lydia Aspinall, aged nine, and Bracken Sharples, aged 10, completed a five kilometre swimathon at Horwich Leisure Centre.

The national Swimathon event raises money for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie, the girls, both keen swimmers, wanted to take part after one of their teachers retired after her husband died of cancer late last year.

Lydia's mum, Nicky Aspinall, said: "Both the girls have been impacted by cancer in their lives.

"Lydia's granddad had cancer of the esophagus, thankfully he's still here in his 80s and Bracken's grandfather had liver cancer.

"I spotted the Swimathon on Twitter and it struck a chord, especially as one of the teachers, Mrs Horrocks, had been off quite some time.

"They were both really excited to do it."

The pair, who attend St Andrews Over Hulton, completed the 5k swim, 200 lengths, in the three hour time limit on Sunday morning.

Mrs Aspinall said: "It really was unbelievable. And they were the only two children there that day."

People taking part in the Swimathon have the option of swimming distances between 400m and 5km. The pair have so far raised a total of £680 for the two charities.

The girls' headteacher, Simon Charnock was thrilled with their achievement.

He said: "Unfortunately, at the school a lot of people have experience of cancer either directly or indirectly. Through work in the community we are making sure the children are aware of how lucky we are and also what we can do to have an impact.

"The girls have picked this up independently and we're celebrating that, it helps the children learn about becoming a positive member of the community."

Julie Horrocks, was a year six teacher at the primary school. She helped her husband as he battled with cancer for many years, unfortunately it returned in late 2016 and he died at the end of last year.

Mr Charnock said: "Mrs Horrocks wanted to come back but felt she couldn't give what she used to give. But she's still a friend of the school and we're trying to persuade her to come back and volunteer."

Mrs Horrocks said: " "