Annabelle saddles up to raise £1,200 for zoo
A seven- year- old super cyclist has smashed her target of raising £700 for zoo animals.
Annabelle Muir recently mastered using her pedal bike without the parent handle and wanted to put her new skill to good use by cycling 7k each day for seven days and raise £700 for the popular Five Sisters Zoo.
But the Kirklandneuk Primary P2 pupil gone further than that by raising more than £1,200 so far and she pedalled 66km in the end – the distance from her home in Renfrew to the zoo in Edinburgh.
Her parents Donna and Stephen say they are very proud of their determined daughter’s achievements.
Donna said: “My mum had said to me Five Sisters Zoo had some good educational things on their site.
“Annabelle loves animals so we took a look and it said it was raising funds to keep going during the lockdown.
“Annabelle had recently learned how to ride her bike by herself so we thought it would be a good idea to raise money and encourage her on her bike.
“You could see how much her confidence grew over the week, she absolutely loved it. She’s picking up speed, standing up on her pedals and going up hills.
“She’s so happy she raised so much money. She thought £700 might be quite a big challenge so she’s over the moon she’s blown that out the water.”
Stephen, who lives in Kilbarchan, added: “Annabelle did some bike rides with me on the cycle path to Lochwinnoch and some at her mum’s in Renfrew.
“Since the lockdown she’s had a lot more time to practice going on her bike and she managed to do it. We thought because she’s seven it would be good to do 7k each day for seven days.
“At her age she didn’t even think about the money to start with but she’s blown away.
“We added up the total distance she did and it was more than 7k a day – she actually cycled the distance from Renfrew to the zoo, which was just a sheer coincidence.
“It was great to see her confidence grow over the week we did it.
“She was so exhausted on the last day she went for a nap afterwards.”
A lot of family and friends said they wanted to donate to support Annabelle’s fundraising so her JustGiving page has been kept open until Sunday.
Adele Copland, from Five Sisters Zoo, said: “What an amazing achievement for a young girl. We really appreciate the kindness and generosity that has been received.
“We cant wait to welcome Annabelle along to the zoo when we open again.”