A YOUNG girl has run a mile a day for a week to raise money to support families living with motor neurone disease (MND).

Nine-year-old Molly Salmon, from Milnthorpe, joined Kevin Sinfield's '7 in 7 challenge' to raise funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. 

The challenge includes seven runs in seven consecutive days to raise money to support those affected by MND.

Molly's mother said the girl watched the documentary about the Rugby League player Rob Burrow 'Living with MND' and was 'really touched by it'. 

She said: "It really affected her so she wanted to do something to raise money to help.

"Her and her dad decided to do the seven in seven days challenge so she ran a mile every day for seven days.

"She was determined to try and help. Her goal was to raise £100 by running a mile a night, sometimes over a mile. She even ran with a bad cold because she felt so passionately about the cause."

The money raised will provide care and support for people living with, and affected by MND. It will also fund vital research to help better understand the disease and bring us closer to finding a cure.

The Westmorland Gazette: Molly running as part of her 7 day challenge.Molly running as part of her 7 day challenge. (Image: Submitted)

Molly's mother said the support had been 'amazing' as Molly has now raised more than £900.

Her mother said: "She is quite blown away by how generous everyone has been and it made her more determined to want to do things in the future. 

"I'm really proud of her because you could tell that she was really passionate about the cause."

Although Molly is not massively into sports she decided to embrace the challenge.

"She likes going on walks and she loves cycling, but actually running is not one of the things that she would normally do. She could have done the challenge on a bike but she chose to do running which made me even more proud of her because she didn't take the easy option", said her mother. 

She added: "It was lovely that she was touched by the documentary. Usually would stop at that, but the fact that she was determined to do something just made me really proud of her.

"She has got a kind heart."

Molly now wants to do the Keswick to Barrow walk and she is planning to do more run-type events for MND.