Coronavirus: Seven-year-old runs garden marathon to support NHS

‘It was quite hard work,’ youngster says. ‘But I just kept going. My sister made me jam sandwiches to eat while I walked’

Herbie Wharton (Peter Wharton)

From 99-year-old Tom Moore walking laps of his garden to physiotherapist Rob Ferguson climbing the equivalent of Everest on his home stairs, money has been made for NHS workers in a variety of innovative ways during the coronavirus lockdown.

Now, one fundraiser in Warwickshire has completed a sponsored marathon in their own garden.

The really impressive thing? The fundraiser in question is a 7-year-old boy.

Herbie Wharton – the son of a triathlon-competing father and marathon-running mother – spent eight hours smashing out 420 laps of his back yard in the village of Wellesbourne.

In doing so, he raised £5,500 for the NHS Charities Together appeal which supports those caring for Covid-19 patients.

“It was quite hard work,” he tells The Independent on Thursday. “But I just kept going, it wasn’t too bad. Millie [his 10-year-old sister] made me jam sandwiches to eat while I walked.”

The youngster decided to do the challenge after being inspired by his parents’ own efforts in stamina-busting races.

But, while father Peter encouraged the year two pupil and Beaver Scout, he never envisaged him doing the full 26 miles.

“He’s a fit little lad and he’s done 5k runs before so I thought he’d maybe get to 10,” the 38-year-old environmental consultant says. “But I didn't dream he’d do a full marathon. I did it with him and I was saying he had to stop whenever he got tired but he just kept plodding on.”

He had occasional mid-lap rests, his father adds, but the only time he went inside was to make use of the facilities. “We didn’t want a Paula Radcliffe situation in the back garden,” says Peter.

Passing neighbours cheered Herbie on throughout the day, meanwhile, with £80 in cash left in an envelope on the front gate.

“We’re so proud of him,” says his mother Jennifer, a 39-year-old horticulturalist. “He’s an inspiration.”

Indeed, when he woke the next morning, he did so by all accounts without a single muscle ache. "I thought he'd spend the day relaxing inside," says Peter. "But he came out to help me in the garden."