Kennett schoolboy Alex, 11, joins London Marathon challenge to raise money for charity

A schoolboy from Kennett has joined the London Marathon 2.6 challenge which aims to raise money for the many charities which lost out on millions of pounds of sponsorship when the event was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eleven-year-old Alex Fahmy, who is a pupil at Fairstead House School, in Newmarket, is cycling 26 laps of the garden at his home in Dane Hill Road every day for 26 days to raise money for Chain of Hope, a charity providing international life-saving surgery for children born with congenital heart conditions.

He is just one of a team of people of all ages all around the world taking part in a host of activities based around the numbers 2.6 or 26 including walking, running or cycling 26 miles, juggling for 2.6 minutes and holding online workouts with 26 friends.

“It takes me about 40 minutes to complete 26 laps as we have quite a big garden,” said Alex, who is sometimes chased around his route by miniature schnauzer dog Isla.

“I made out the track a long time ago and I always loved cycling on it at the weekends,” he added.

Alex said he had chosen the Chain of Hope charity because of the work it does to help children all over the world but also because, as a small charity, a larger proportion of the money raised goes directly to funding its work. He is supported by his mother, Sherine, and father, Fahmy, who counts off the daily laps and makes a photographic record of Alex’s progress on the countdown to Day 26 in a week’s time.

Meanwhile, their daughter Nada, 27, an interior designer and keen cook who lives in London, is also doing her bit during the current lockdown by baking batches of cup cakes which are being delivered to hospitals for NHS staff.

Alex has already raised £861 for Chain of Hope and would be grateful for any donations which can be made via justgiving.com/fundraising/fahmozo.

The London Marathon, which was due to mark its 40th anniversary on April 26, has been rescheduled for October 4.