West Lothian kids cycle 10km each day to raise money for NHS

Alfie and Lucy Fairbairn have raised £1,400.

Two West Lothian youngsters are cycling 10km every day to raise money for NHS Charities Together.

Lucy, 6, and Alfie, 10, Fairbairn have so far raised £1,400 through their JustGiving page.

They cycle the same route near their home in West Calder each day with Mum Laura, 35.

Lucy, 6, and Alfie, 10, are raising money for the NHS.

The pair came up with the fundraising idea after seeing similar campaigns elsewhere. While they are ‘not bikers’ and had not cycled much in the past, they had been doing more of the exercise as a family since Ms Fairbairn was furloughed from her job working in finance at Kinly.

“The kids saw other fundraising things going on around and they wanted to do something, so we thought we could combine that with our cycling,” said Ms Fairbairn.

“We had been doing around 6km before so we decided to up the distance to make it a bit more of a challenge.”

The trio keep to cycle paths and are careful to head out early in the day in order to meet fewer people and reduce social contact.

Alfie and Lucy cycle 10km each day.

The ‘beautiful route’ takes in a section along the river and through woods, as well as a ‘massive, massive hill’ coming in to East Calder.

Youngest Lucy has to get off and walk the steepest part of the hill, but she has been cycling a longer portion of it each day.

“We really push ourselves and go further each time without walking. It’s been great for our health as well,” said Ms Fairburn.

Alfie and Lucy originally hoped to reach a target of £1,000, but hit it just four days after they started their campaign on April 16.

They have now resolved to continue for a total of 10 days and see how much they can raise, but may keep going for longer if they can.

“The kids are really buzzing about it,” said Ms Fairbairn.

“We check how much we’ve raised every day just before the cycle. It gives them a boost, they’re just buzzing after that and it gives them the energy to do the cycle.”