Boy, 9, in marathon effort for late father who died in M74 car crash

A nine-year-old boy has raised £5,500 by running a total of 26.2 miles for a bereavement charity that helped him when his dad died in a car crash.

Rory Logg, from South Queensferry in Edinburgh, was three when the family's car skidded into a tree on the way to his grandparents in Ayrshire on Christmas Eve 2014.

Rory, his mother, Lorraine, and five-month-old brother Thomas survived.

However, his father Richard Logg, 37, died in hospital on Boxing Day.

Rory originally set out to raise £100 for the charity by running the equivalent of a marathon - but ended up raising more than 50 times his target.

Mrs Logg, 40, said: "When I knew Richard was going to die on the Boxing Day everything was shut so I called Child Bereavement UK and they sent me all the information on how to tell young children that a parent has died.

"They have helped me so much over the years with advice and shown me how to keep it a very open topic with Rory and Thomas.

"Christmas Eve and Boxing Day are dates Rory is very aware of and when he heard about the Jog on January challenge he immediately started arranging to run a marathon in memory of his dad.

"He wanted to run it all in one go, he was so enthusiastic, but I tried to keep him to about two miles a day."

Rory and his mum worked out a safe route he could run on his own, avoiding main roads.

They walked the route together so Rory knew where he was going before he was allowed out on his own.

Mrs Logg said: "He was very motivated and would get his trainers on and go out without any prompting."

Other days he would go to the nearby Forth Road Bridge with his mum and brother to run a section of the challenge.

Rory sustained an injury during the challenge when his big toe swelled up but he was back out two days later after treating it with ice.

Mrs Logg said: "He was out in all weather. Richard would have been really proud of him. He wouldn't have believed that a little boy could run so far in such a short space of time.

"It has been such a tough time for our family and this has been a positive thing for both Rory's physical fitness as well as his mental wellbeing."

Rory completed the challenge on the 17 January after starting it on New Year's Day.

He was joined by his hero, Scotland 7s rugby player Ross McCann, for the last leg.

Mr Logg was a manager at Fettes Prep School, where Rory is now a pupil.

Rory said: "My mum didn't let me run it all in one day but I could have done. I wasn't sweaty afterwards but my mum was sweaty on the runs she did with me. She stayed behind me and I ran ahead.

"My teacher said it was amazing and my friends at school sponsored me.

"I'm so excited. It was quite hard but my brother wants to do it with me next year."

Mrs Logg, who fractured her vertebrate and punctured her lung in the crash, said their car skidded on ice before sliding down an embankment and into a tree.

She said: "It was freak weather. It had just been hailstoning and then suddenly the temperature dropped and the road became very icy. It all happened so quickly."

She was discharged from hospital after an overnight but her husband had sustained severe head injuries which proved to be fatal.

Sophie Paley, Child Bereavement UK director of fundraising. 'We're very grateful to Rory for his fantastic fundraising for Child Bereavement UK.

"We were so impressed that someone so young could complete the marathon distance in such a short time - and with such a huge smile on his face."