Inspirational Sheffield schoolboy wins support of South Yorkshire Police as he closes in on fundraising target

Tobias Weller, aged nine, who has cerebral palsy, is walking 750 metres along his street in Beauchief each day to fulfil his challenge of completing a lockdown marathon.

The youngster was originally planning to complete a one-kilometre sponsored walk in May, but when he found out that was no longer possible he took inspiration from 100-year-old Captain Tom, who completed 100 laps of his garden for charity, and decided to cover the 26.2 mile distance to raise money for Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Paces School.

No dubbed Captain Tobias by family and friends, he smashed his original £500 fundraising goal and is closing in on his new target of £25,000. As of 2pm on Saturday, he had raised more than £21,000 thanks to over 1000 donations.

On Friday officers from Sheffield South West neighbourhood policing team visited his street to show him some support and have a picture together.

In a tweet, they said: “Have you heard about Captain Tobias? We think he is fantastic.”

Tobias’ mum Ruth wrote on his JustGiving page: “Tobias visits Sheffield Children’s Hospital on a regular basis and has had several operations there. He genuinely enjoys going ‘for a sleepover’ because the staff ensure the whole experience is as positive as possible.

“He looks forward to using the games and technology that they provide but most of all he looks forward to eating jelly!”

You can sponsor Captain Tobias here.