Bursledon sisters raise over £3,000 for Marwell Zoo

As previously reported, Faith Lindsell and Elizabeth Hatfull, from Bursledon, decided they wanted to raise money for Marwell Zoo after animals had items thrown at them in a break-in on February 15.

Their original challenge was to ride 35km on their bikes by doing laps of a car park close to their home.

Once they completed that they then aimed to ride 100km by the end of February to raise £128 for the zoo through their Gofundme page.

Now though, the two girls, whose mums are partners, are about half way into their latest challenge to ride a total of 150km by the end of March, and have now raised £3,050 for the animals.

Mother, Faye Linsell said that she and her partner, Zala Hatfull are just "proud and amazed that they've managed to raise so much money".

Faye claimed that because of media coverage of the girls challenge, they have had people recognising them in the street, neighbours asking if they can bring their children to ride their bikes with the, as well as people driving past and beeping in support as the girls ride along.

Faye added: "They're enjoying it, they think they're little celebrities. They go to school and they think they're famous. They even sat at the table one night designing their autographs.

"At first we were sat here saying "imagine if they raise £500" and now they're over £3,000.

"The girls don't really understand what £3,000 is, I'd love to, if I had it, draw it out in cash and chuck it on the floor so they can see exactly how much money they've raised."

Once the March challenge is over, the girls will have travelled 250km on their bike, and Faye claimed they've become a lot more sporty as a result, joining new clubs at school as a result.

Although their legs are said to be getting quite tired with all the riding, they aren't showing any signs of stopping, and now have their sites set on their next challenge, to raise money for the NHS.

Donate to the girls here.