A SPORTY little boy from Horsell has made good use of school being out because of coronavirus to raise more than £2,000 to help other youngsters.

Five-year-old Teo Palladino is a keen runner who was disappointed that his regular Sunday park runs were suspended.

However, he decided to seek pledges via JustGiving and run one kilometre every day while school was closed, in support of Unicef’s work supporting children affected by COVID-19.

Running for 42 consecutive days meant Teo covered the marathon distance of 26 miles. And he decided to keep going, even though he has now returned to Horsell Village School.

“I normally do a park run with my family every Sunday,” Teo said. “I can’t do that now because coronavirus is travelling, so I decided to run at home, and I want children around the world to do the same.”

With help from his dad, Emanuele, he set up the Teo’s HomeRun for Children fundraiser. A child agrees to run one kilometre, donates £3 to the fund and then nominates three friends to join in.

Teo added: “I like doing HomeRun. It’s all fun. I’m really happy that people have given me money to do this.

“I want to keep running for a long time because I want to keep giving money to children around the world.”

Emanuele said: “We are very proud of Teo. He’s raised more than £1,500 and was in the top 5% of fundraisers for JustGiving in April.”

For more about Teo’s exploits, or to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com and search for ihomerun. For more pictures, visit www.instagram.com/homerunforchildren.