A STALYBRIDGE father and daughter have been on the run to honour the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.
Nick and Phoebe Whitbread have certainly made a grand spectacle as their charity total has topped £1,000 when their original target was £100.
After seeing information about the Captain Tom 100 challenge, designed to raise further money in memory of the 100-year-old who raised a huge £38.9 million, the pair decided to put their best feet forward.
With not just one 10K run but 10 in 10 days to make the century.
And despite tiredness and a stumble on one of the outings, 11-year-old Phoebe, who goes to Buckton Vale Primary, Carrbrook, managed it with aplomb.
Keeping the runs local around the Carrbrook and Stalybridge areas, some meant very early starts – at 5.45am, because of after school commitments.
It is just the start of a running odyssey as when asked whether she wanted to stick at it, she simply replied: “Yes definitely.”
“We set the £100 target because Captain Tom was 100 years old,” added dad Nick.
“But we’re overwhelmed at reaching £1,000. We had no idea it would go that big.
“It was my idea but only after seeing a message from Phoebe’s school, which said, ‘Join in Captain Tom’s 100. Think of things you can do.’
“And Phoebe’s doing a Junior Awards Scheme for Schools (JASS) course, which is almost a pre-cursor to something like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
“I thought, ‘What can we do?’ Then one morning I said, ‘Do you fancy doing this Phoebe?’ She agreed.
“That was on a Wednesday, then when we realised it was to finish on the weekend that would’ve been Captain Tom’s 101st birthday, we had to start on the Saturday.
“There was no training. We just put our trainers on and went out running.
“We’d tend to keep the courses nice and flat wand we’d do 5K out and 5K back, jogging along and credit to Phoebe, she didn’t stop at all.
“On some days, Phoebe does dancing after school, so we couldn’t go then and had to get up very early so we could go out, do the run and still be back for school.
“She’d only ever done one 10K run before, but Phoebe’s best was one hour six minutes. She’s as fit as a fiddle really.”
Phoebe and Nick were joined by friends on some of the runs as they achieved one target – and smashed another.
And even a slight tumble did not put her off as her father added: “Even then she didn’t let it put her off. She was brave and carried on.
“The fact she never gives in is brilliant.”