Marine cadet, 9, triples her fundraising target

A NINE-YEAR-OLD Royal Marines cadet from Arbroath who completed a 10-mile march along the Angus coast has seen her fundraising total soar to more than £3,000 after The Tele covered her story.

Sophie Robb decided to take on the March in March challenge to raise awareness and funds for Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health.

March in March is a walking challenge devised by Combat Stress that asks participants to walk or run for a minimum of 10 miles during the month of March. All funds raised help the charity to continue delivering its life-changing specialist mental health services to former servicemen and women with militaryrelated trauma.

Lacing up her size two boots, the Arbroath Division Royal Marine cadet decided to tackle the 10 miles in one go, rather than spread it out across the month. Starting at Carnoustie Royal British Legion, she departed to bagpipes and fanfare and received an equally rapturous welcome at the finish line at the Arbroath Royal British Legion.

Sophie’s efforts saw her raise a staggering £3,300, a figure which has almost doubled after the original story last week and has well surpassed her original target of £1,000.

Far from content with her fundraising efforts so far, Sophie plans to take on the West Highland way next year, viewing her march this year as a warm up to the 92-mile challenge that is to come.

Sophie commented on the inspiration behind her efforts: “It is important to get money for Combat Stress to help people that need to get better. I want to help as many veterans as I can to feel better as they have done so much to keep us safe.”

She continued by thanking those who had supported her march.

Sophie’s fundraising page will stay open until the end of the month and you can raise her total even higher by donating using the following link: events.combatstress. org.uk/fundraisers/ sophierobb