A five-year-old boy from Solihull has been crowned as charity champion after running and scootering a whopping 120km and raising more than £550 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Benjamin Tomkinson was inspired to get moving after a teacher at Burman Infant School, where he is a pupil, challenged all of the children in his year to complete 60k during the school holidays.

Energetic Benjamin was eager to take part but before he got started, mum Jenni explained that many people ask friends and family to sponsor them when they take on a challenge like this, and suggested that Benjamin might like to use this opportunity to help raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

Thankfully, other than a couple of trips to A&E, Benjamin has never experienced an extended stay at the leading paediatric centre but he knows plenty of friends, and cousins, who have, and that was enough to inspire him to get moving.

An experienced junior park-runner, Benjamin knew he would have no trouble racking up the distance, especially when combining the running with shirt stints on his scooter, and before long, he had smashed his 60k target. That wasn’t enough for little Benjamin though, who carried on running and scootering until he completed his 120^th kilometre whilst on holiday in Burnham-on-Sea.

Jenni said: “We’re so proud of Benjamin! He loves to move so this challenge was right up his street, although we didn’t quite expect him to rack up so many miles! When Benjamin first started out on his scooter, we tied red balloons and a little sign to tell passers-by what he was doing, and so many people stopped him to chat, with some even sponsoring him!

“Luckily we’ve only ever had to visit Birmingham Children’s Hospital for minor injuries but we know what a special place it is and we’re grateful to have such a fantastic facility so close by.”

Miranda Williams, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “Benjamin is quite the pocket-rocket and we’re so inspired by his energy! Our hospital cares for more than 90,000 sick kids every single year and the incredible funds Benjamin raised through his challenge will go towards helping us do more for each and every one of them and their families.”