7-year-old May runs 100 miles dressed as a pink unicorn to raise money for the NHS.
The young girl from West Bridgford came up with the idea after seeing the success of Captain Tom and the incredible amount of money that he raised for charity by walking 100 laps of his garden to mark his 100th birthday.
Throughout her challenge May, who attends Abbey Road Primary School, had a target of raising £1,000 for NHS charities.
May’s mum, Ellie who works at Boots, said, “May came up with the idea for the challenge herself. She was inspired by Captain Tom and adamant she wanted to do something for the NHS. She loves unicorns so of course the unicorn costume was the obvious choice. “
Although the unicorn costume was not easy to run in, May was still determined to keep going. During each of her runs, she covered between 2 – 2.5 miles, starting her journey at the end of February. She even continued running throughout her family holiday in April.
Ellie continued, “It has been hard work at times, but May always cheers up once she’s got her costume on and is out the door. She’s had people stopping her in the street, bibbing their car horns and cheering her on out of car windows. The support has been lovely and seeing the donations roll in and the kindness and generosity of people – a lot of them complete strangers – has really kept her going.
“She’s had a few falls and we often wondered whether the unicorn costume was going to survive the full challenge.
“The lovely team at West Bridgford M&S have also been raising money for us too. When a few of the staff were on a break, they spotted what they thought was a pink dinosaur running through the park. When they saw May on social media, they offered to help by putting collection buckets on their tills for the duration of the challenge.”
“People seem to have really enjoyed seeing her out running and her updates on social media and we are obviously really proud of her for sticking with it and getting through it.
After completing the full 100 miles at the end of April, May has raised a whopping £2529 for the NHS Charities with the final total still rising.
There’s still time to donate to Mays Unicorn 100 challenge, if you would like to contribute, please visit: www.justgiving.com/unicorn100
