10-year-old girl from Camborne sets off to John O’Groats

A 10-year-old girl has set off on a 1347.1 km run from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for Blackwood.

Mia Richardson, a pupil at St John’s Catholic Primary School, will be covering the length of the country on the cross-trainer in her house and has already got as far as Bristol. She hopes to reach her Scottish goal by 30 June.

Mia’s mum, Bernie, has worked as a carer for Cornwall Care for six years and currently spends more than forty hours a week helping to keep Blackwood’s vulnerable residents safe. Prior to coronavirus lockdown restrictions, Mia also visited the home regularly.

“She enjoys going in and sitting with residents,” said her father Dan, who has been furloughed from his job as a shop manager in Truro. “She has raised money for them in the past by making cupcakes but is now set on the idea of being able to help buy the home a Magic Table. We launched a JustGiving page last night and nearly £200 has already been donated.”

Before the pandemic, Mia enjoyed going to the local gym with her mum. That’s not possible at the moment so using the cross trainer is helping her keep fit.

 “We do home schooling in the morning and exercise around lunchtime,” said Dan. “The cross trainer is hard work so, whilst Mia is on that, I run up and down the stairs. We certainly cover some miles between us!”

Blackwood specialises in providing residential dementia care and is a short 2-minute walk from where the Richardson family live.

“I briefly met ‘SpeedoMick’ when he came through Truro and felt very inspired by what he was doing,” said Dan. “Mia will run the same distance as him – but in the comfort and warmth of our own home.”

To contribute to Mia Richardson’s fundraising effort, please go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/miarichardson