THE daughter of late newsagent and former sportsman, Frater Davidson, is completing a 10km swim in aid of Motor Neuron Disease (MND).

Tracey Davidson, who currently works at the London South Bank University, is wading in her father's footsteps as she takes to the pool on November 10.

Frater Davidson, who passed away in 2004, will fondly be remembered by many as the owner of the newsagents on the corner of Market Street and Bank Street and a member of the Galashiels Water Polo team in the 1950s and 60s.

He was also a capped water polo player, representing Scotland on an international level, his first cap being given against Ireland in 1959.

He also played alongside Doug Welsh who was an Olympic swimmer, he competed at the Helsinki Olympics as a freestyle swimmer in 1952.

Tracey confessed: "I've never been a runner, but I always enjoyed swimming.

"10km is the same as 6 miles. That's roughly the distance between Gala and Selkirk. There's no chance I would run that.

"But the option to swim it, that's a challenge I wanted to give myself."

She has spent many a lunch break training for next week's swim and has so far swum 160 lengths of the Olympic pool in Stratford - 40 lengths off the final distance. She says the training is a good distraction from a busy time at work where she is in the midst graduation ceremonies in London's South Bank.

And although she knows it will be a challenge, she is not one to be underestimated.

She told us: "The swimmer in the family was always dad. But he was very modest about his success as a sportsman.

"It was only last year when I got in touch with the Amateur Swimming Association and they told me about all of the times he competed, even at a national level.

"I've never been in this environment before, I'm definitely out of my comfort zone.

"But I know I'm going to be able to feed off the atmosphere and my friends, family and colleagues will be cheering me home."

Tracey was inspired by the story of fellow Borderer, Doddie Weir and decided to fundraise for his charity, My Name'5 Doddie.

MND is a complex disease which affects the brain and nerves. With no single way to diagnose and no cure, the disease is progressive, so gets worse over time.

Tracey set-up a Just Giving page for the swim which has already surpassed its target of £750 an is now over £1000.

But although she's gone beyond her initial target, she hopes more donations will come through for a deserving cause.

She told us: "It's such an important cause.

"It's unacceptable that there's no one test for MND and there's no known cure.

"There's been a lack of funding over the years and seeing Doddie bring professionals together to get more research done is amazing."

To donate to Tracey's swim for MND visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/teamtraceyd