The four-year-old Derbyshire girl who decided to take on a triathlon for charity says she now feels ready to take on a full event after she smashed her funding target.
Effie Bowman, from Castle Gresley, took on a four-mile bike ride, a 200-metre run and a 50-metre swim on Saturday, August 26 to raise money from the YMCA in Burton and her Repton school, St Wystan's.
Young Effie set a £550 fund-raising target, with the cash to be split equally between the two. Effie attended pre-school at St Wystan's and will be starting at the main school next month. The school needs money to go towards building a new outdoor classroom and play area.
Meanwhile, the YMCA in Burton continues to accept donations to help bring support and care for vulnerable people in crisis and on the streets.
Effie's mum Donna Reid says the energetic youngster couldn’t stop herself from completing her triathlon and then doing a little bit more.
Miss Reid said: "We were so lucky with some lovely weather. She had her porridge in the morning and absolutely smashed it.
"She did have to have a small break between the run and biking for a quick ice cream to build up her energy.
"She enjoyed the swimming so much she did an extra length! She enjoyed the running, but it was very tiring for her and she certainly slept well.
"I’m just so proud of her. She did really well and we cheered her on the whole way. She already wants to do another, but with school starting next week, I think we’ll be leaving it until next year."
The original target of £550 has already been smashed, with the current figure standing at around £665 with more money still to be counted.
Effie explained her reasoning for raising the money for her chosen causes: "I like giving to charity and to homeless people. I feel sad when I see them homeless, and when I watch programmes about the YMCA I want to help.
"I also want to help my school because they’re building a new play castle so we can play."
Mum Donna said: "She wants to do a full triathlon now, but I don’t think they’ll let her do it because she is still probably a bit too young.
"We just want to thank all the caring people who have donated. Every time Effie passed us while swimming, running or cycling she’d ask ‘how much money have we got now’?"
A dedicated JustGiving website page has been set up to allow for anyone to donate to Effie’s causes. It can be found online at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/effietri?utmid=92&utmterm=6aBD69D6P.
What is a triathlon?
Swimming, biking and running; a triathlon is an accumulation of three sports, all coming together to form one event.
Competitiors complete the three stages one after the other, allowing little chance for rest in between.
Tackling three different disciplines for one event helps stop training and competition from becoming repetitive, by providing plenty of variety.
Sports and leisure centres across the country have clubs dedicated to triathlons, allowing athletes to take on one another on land, wheels and water.
There is a triathlon event at the Olympic Games, and at the most recent games held in Brazil in 2016, it involved a 1.5 kilometre swim, a 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.
