50-mile walk is child’s play for Rebecca, six
AS I X-YEAR- OLD who walked herself into the ground for two weeks has raised around £2,000 for a children’s hospital.
Rebecca Mercer, of Baxenden, was cheered on by neighbours and loved ones on Sherbourne Road as she broke the tape on a makeshift finishing line to complete the 50-mile challenge.
Starting with a more modest fundraising goal of £80, she had walked all around the village with her mum Kate, dad Garry and dog Lola to raise funds for Alder Hey Children’s Charity, in honour of a family friend receiving treatment at the hospital.
Kate, who is a selfemployed driving instructor and daughter of well known local instructor
David Lightbown, explained that Rebecca began the challenge in the middle of May, after finding out her next door neighbour was doing a marathon.
She said: “Rebecca said she wanted to walk 26 miles for the rest of May, but we completed that in seven or eight days - so we decided to up it to 50 miles.
“We walked every day; the most we did in one day was four and a half miles.
“Some of the walks were quite hard because it was hot, and that made it quite challenging.”
Kate said the Baxenden St John’s pupil had received donations from people they don’t know and the challenge had snowballed after she began putting updates and photos on Facebook, mapping their routes.
She added: “People just kept sharing it. We are grateful for all the donations; it’s been amazing. We never expected that sort of money.
“The school has supported as well and they put out a YouTube video.”