A SPORTY six-year-old is running a marathon in her Borders garden in a bid to support staff and residents at care homes.

Grace Broadhead, of Galashiels, has launched a fundraiser to buy extra personal protective equipment (PPE) for every residential home in the region.

The youngster aims to clock up 26.2 miles by running laps of her garden over the course of two weeks.

She told the Border Telegraph she is delighted with the response so far, with donations totalling £925 as at April 24.

She said: “I’m very happy because I get to help people and loads of people are supporting me – I feel very special.”

Grace’s father Dan Broadhead, 38, revealed that his daughter often worries about other people’s struggles.

“Grace has always been, if anything comes on the TV about sending something for this or that, she wells up and worries about people,” said Mr Broadhead.

“With coronavirus, she saw on the news that senior citizens in care homes are quite badly affected - not in Scotland, but in England - and she said, ‘What can I do to make them safer’?”

When Grace suggested she could go running to raise money for PPE, her family helped her come up with a plan.

“We said there’s no way she could run a marathon in a day – she’s only six – so we thought she could maybe do it over two weeks,” Mr Broadhead said.

Grace is aiming to run an average of three kilometres per day. However, after five days she had already run 19km out of her target of 42.2km.

Donations have been pouring in from across the UK, according to Mr Broadhead, who has begun placing orders for PPE.

Mr Broadhead and his wife Anne Stewart own Borders Podiatry, in Galashiels, so they already have accounts with companies supplying protective gear, Mr Broadhead said.

The items he hopes to secure on Grace’s behalf include gloves, aprons, hand creams, surface wipes and masks.

Grace and her father intend to visit every care home in the Borders, working outwards from Galashiels.

Mr Broadhead said: “We’re not wanting to do unnecessary journeys so the plan is, when we go out for food, that’s when we will do the drop-offs.”