Express & Star

Don’t stop me now! Super stroller Noah's marathon challenge

The challenge was to walk a marathon in a month for charity – but eight-year-old Noah Beach is not stopping there.

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Eight-year-old Noah Beech has walked 52.4 miles for charity

The youngster has now covered more than 50 miles and is still going strong, raising hundreds of pounds for good causes.

The Wolves fan has even received messages of support from goalie Rui Patricio – and has written to boss Nuno to see if he wants to join him on one of his evening rambles.

Noah, who lives off Beacon Road, in Sedgley, with his parents, hopes to raise £1,500 for his efforts in aid of SMA UK Trust.

The challenge, called Marathon in May, encourages people to walk, swim, cycle or run the 26.2 miles in a marathon in the month.

But Noah has already walked and cycled an incredible 52.4 miles – double the target.

He took on the mission as some of his family members – including his 16-week-old cousin – suffer from spinal muscular atrophy.

Noah said: “I’m proud of what I’ve done. I was excited for it – I’m overwhelmed.

“I’ve done two marathons and my friends and family have been encouraging.”

The youngster was also named in the top five per cent of fundraisers for May – out of 52,000 people.

Eight-year-old Noah Beach has walked 52.4 miles for charity

Noah’s grandmother Anne Mills said: “We’ve had two members of the family who’ve had this condition – the most recent one was Noah’s cousin Amber, who was born in 2016 – and we lost her at 16 weeks old.

“Because of Amber, the charity is very close to our hearts.

“We did a lot of fundraising around the time Amber was born and any events we’ve had we’ve done collections for the trust.”

Noah comes home from school each night and heads out for a walk after his tea round the nearby fields. He usually tries to do a set number of miles, like one or two – and then a few more on the weekends.

And whenever the weather is rough, he hops on his father’s treadmill to get his miles in. He’s been posting mini video diaries of his updates on his Facebook page ‘Noah’s Marathon in May’.

Although he would most like ‘famous people’ to accompany him on his walks, his grandmother said, he instead settles for the family puppy, miniature labradoodle Lucky.

His mother, 35-year-old Laura Mills, and father 40-year-old Graham Beach, who works at Dudley Council, also joins him.

Grandmother Anna, age 56, added: “It’s a win-win situation this challenge, as it raises money and it gets him some exercise. It gets him off the X-Box and active.

“He kicked off his first target, which was £100 and before he had done his first mile he had already done that.

“He has hit the target – and moved it – three or four times.

“Noah is such a bubbly character and he is a bit of a charmer as well.”

The year three pupil, who is a pupil at Queen Victoria Primary School in Dudley, was rewarded with a tour around Molineux, where he was given a goalkeeper’s shirt with “Noah 26.2” on the back .

After completing the challenge once, he decided to it all another again to continue to raise money.

Anne added: “He had already done 26.2 miles in the middle of May and he did it all again. He has done really well. He loved reading people’s comments and it’s really nice he gets all that support.”