Buxton pupil first in country to run 50 miles with Golden Mile challenge

Seven-year-old Demi Haighton-Green from Fairfield Infants School is the first person out of 42,000 pupils nationwide to reach the 50 mile milestone in a daily running challenge.

Charlotte Drake, sports lead for the school and Demi’s teacher said: “I’m so proud of Demi.

“She’s too young to fully understand that she is the first person child in the country to get have run 50 miles with this challenge and how big an achievement this is but it really is.

“She is such a determined child which great personal strength and the running has helped her and the other children be more active which has led them to being more focused in class too.”

The Golden Mile is a track painted on the playground and students log the number of times they run around the track which is then converted into miles.

Chris Wood, director of Premier Education for High Peaks, Buxton and Leek, which organises the fitness activity, said: “Demi would run and not get tired. It was never a chore for her and it was always fun.”

Fairfield Infants started the Golden Mile challenge after other schools in the area.

Demi became the third student to achieve the 25 Mile award, but completed it in half the time of the previous two.

There are still only three silver winners in the area and in just five months Demi has run the equivalent of the distance to Liverpool and the whole school has completed 770 miles, which is the equivalent of running to the South of France.