A TALENTED young footballer from Kincardine has charged through the Alloa Half Marathon course to support a woman suffering from spinal stroke.

Evan Easton, 15, recently ran the scenic course around the Wee County to support the family of Stacy Conlin.

Springburn woman Stacy, the partner of Paul Muir who is an old pal of Evan's proud dad Peter, had suffered a spinal stroke this year which left her almost completely paralysed.

"Big Paul" and their two children Lottie and Paul junior have endured months of not seeing Stacey during the coronavirus lockdown.

With the help of friends, they have been raising funds for major adaptations in their home, costing around £75,000, to allow the mum of two to return ahead of Christmas.

Despite never having met Paul or his family, Evan, who recently signed full-time for Celtic and earned his first cap for Scotland earlier in the year, was keen to help any way he could.

Proud dad Peter had completed the course twice in the past and would have ran alongside his son, was it not for a recent back injury he is still struggling with.

He said: "It was brilliant, Big Paul was delighted, they've got building works ongoing, a lot of friends chipped in and helped.

"It's a 24/7 to get this house done before Christmas so Stacy can get home for the kids.

"A heartbreaking story, I'm crabbit at the best of times but it puts things into perspective [amid the coronavirus pandemic].

"Stacy's life has changed forever."

Evan raised more than £1,500 through sponsorship for the good cause in the process.

During the run, he was supported by his dad, who stopped the car every mile or so to make sure all was going well.

Evan, whose practice has been disrupted by the pandemic, has been training hard regardless over the past few months and was confident he could tackle the popular half marathon course around the Wee County.

Peter mused: "He knows now, because he was in his bed for two days after it, just how tough running a half marathon is.

"He trains very hard, even during lockdown he did keep it up – fair play to him.

"But he never actually done any running training for this half marathon; he said: 'I'll be able to do it, it's only 13 miles'.

"I said: 'Nae bother, charge on!'."

And indeed, Evan completed his first-ever half marathon in one hour and 54 minutes.

Peter added: "As a family we are very-very proud that at his age he actually cared.

"We are extremely proud of him for the fact he took the time and effort to get out of his bed and run a half marathon for Paul and the family."

For more details about the fundraiser, visit tinyurl.com/y3sl2x6c