A GIRL from Cawthorne has raised nearly £1,000 following her marathon-style fundraising run.
Lucy Harding, 16, from Oak Leigh, ran a total of 26 miles in the space of a day in a bid to raise money for the NHS.
Her dad, 55-year-old John Harding, said: “The idea of a marathon did come to mind at first, but obviously due to time restrictions and such this wasn’t really practical.
“So Lucy decided to run 26 miles in a 24-hour period – every hour on the dot she’d run a mile and then on the last hour she had to run two miles to complete make the marathon complete.
“I think Lucy saw what Captain Tom had been doing to raise money, so she thought if he’s able to do what he did at 99, then she can run a mile an hour at 16.”
Lucy, who attends Wakefield Girls’ High School, came back to a sea of applause from her neighbours following her final two-mile stint.
“When she made her way back to the house a lot of the street came out to applaud her, social distancing of course, and my son even started to play the trombone to congratulate her,” John said.
“We’re hoping for some more donations over the coming days but she’s raised nearly £1,000 now which is absolutely fantastic.
“I’m really proud of her, it’s a great effort especially considering she had to be awake for a full 24 hours, she had sore legs and blisters by the end but she managed to pull through with the help of her mum, Melanie.”
