AN Ilkley boy raised nearly £300 for Martin House Hospice when his school suggested running a marathon during the lockdown.

Taking up the challenge, Oscar Webster, aged 12 of Ilkley and a Year 7 pupil at the Grammar School at Leeds, decided he would go one stage further, and asked his family and Godparents to sponsor him for Martin House.

It was during an online lesson Oscar’s teacher mentioned the London Marathon had been cancelled and suggested pupils could try to run a marathon from home in their own time, as part of their PE.

Oscar said: “It got me thinking about how all charities are struggling at the moment due to the Coronavirus. We always take our clothes, sports equipment, bikes and even furniture that we’ve outgrown to the Martin House shop in Ilkley, but with it being closed for such a long time, they must be needing extra support now more than ever, so I ran the marathon over the course of a week to raise money for them.”

Oscar did 10 runs, covered 26.28 miles in a total of 4.06 hours.