AN adventurer aiming to swim the distance of Peru's largest lake has had a setback after injuring her shoulder through over-exertion.

Twenty-three-year-old Sarah Kelly is planning to visit Peru in January 2007 with the organisation Global Adventures Project, which organises gap year programmes abroad.

Sarah, of Hill Avenue, Battenhall, Worcester, needed to raise £5,000 for her trip.

To attract sponsorship, she set herself the task of swimming the length of Lake Titicaca (which borders Peru and Bolivia) - 106 miles or 7,000 lengths, and had been swimming about three times a week at Worcester Swimming Pool in Sansome Walk.

But disaster struck about a month ago when Sarah, who works as assistant manager at clothes store FatFace in Worcester's High Street, began suffering repetitive strain injury in her shoulder.

She has since had to take a month off swimming and instead revert to cycling and running. Now she has had to cut her exercise down to two swims a week, clocking up eight miles a month, and is still receiving physiotherapy for her injury.

She said: "It's not a long-term injury but is because I've been doing too much. It's going fine again now, though, although it's determination really now because I can still feel the injury when I'm swimming.

"The pool has been really supportive, though, and made it really easy for me to clock up the miles."

Sarah's visit to Huaraz - nine hours' drive from the Peruvian capital Lima - will last three months, during which time she will work with poor and underprivileged people.

She has been asking friends, work colleagues and family to sponsor her and has raised more than £500. She has about 25 miles to go and hopes to complete the distance by November. To sponsor her visit: ww.securegiving.co.uk/ sarahkelly