There ain’t no mountain high enough for this adventurous seven-year-old – who is gearing up to scale new heights for a youth cancer charity.
One mountain wasn’t sufficient for Alastair Emrich, from Colchester, who is hiking the 25 miles of the Yorkshire Three Peaks this May for the Tom Bowdidge Youth Cancer Foundation.
And the Queen Boudica Primary School pupil has already won high-profile backing from his hero of the same name Alastair Humphreys, who conquered the same feat when he was nine.
Not only is the plucky schoolboy following in his footsteps, the explorer got him to his £500 target.
“A big challenge like this deserves supporting,” Mr Humphreys tweeted.
Proud mum Nikki said it had been a huge shock for Alastair, and he’d gone to bed a “happy little boy”.
She said: “Alastair is an avid reader and two summers ago he discovered a book by Alastair Humphreys called the Boy Who Biked the World.
“He loves all outdoor activities and was totally enthralled.
“The fact they shared the same name and unusual spelling meant he couldn’t get enough.
Nikki added: “He read Al had done the Yorkshire Three Peaks when he was nine and straightaway asked if he could do it when he was eight.
“We said he could and didn’t think much about it.
“But he kept talking about it, so we planned it.”
The seven-year-old decided he wanted to help the Tom Bowdidge Foundation after bumping into chief executive Nikki Bowdidge.
His mum explained how they knew one another and he heard about Tom, who died aged 19 after being diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of cancer.
“Alastair was extremely sad and told me that it wasn’t fair and that he wanted to help,” she said.
“Once he had set his mind on the Three Peaks he said straight away he wanted to raise money for the foundation.
“He is utterly determined to do it and is already planning to climb Snowdon once he has completed this challenge.”
Alastair will be one of the youngest people ever to climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks. Another seven-year-old set the record in 2015.
To sponsor Alastair, visit this link.
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