Eight-year-old boy becomes youngest person to climb Old Man of Hoy

Youngster climbs challenging route to raise money for cancer charity

Edward Mills is a member of the Scottish youth climbing team (Nathan Mills)

An eight-year-old boy has become the youngest person ever to climb the Old Man of Hoy sea stack off the Scottish coast.

Edward Mills scaled the difficult 140-metre rock route to raise money for charity Climbers Against Cancer as his mother, Bekki Christian, suffers from terminal breast cancer.

Climbing with his coaches Ben West and Cailean Harker, Edward took the record from previous holder Ollie Buckle, who was 10-years-old during his ascent.

It took Edward and his team nearly five hours to reach the top of the stack after setting off at midday yesterday.

Edward's father, Nathan Mills, posted an update to his JustGiving page celebrating Edward's accomplishment.

He wrote: "[Edward] did it. He is absolutely delighted. The hardest thing he has ever done he said. He was anxious this morning but overcame it to make it all the way to the top.

The Old Man of Hoy is a famous climbing route Getty (Getty)

"He filled his name in the book kept at the top and wrote a personal message."

Edward's family travelled to Orkney to watch him complete his climb.

The young athlete made it to the group finals of the British Mountaineering Council's Youth Climbing Series last year and recently earned a place on Scotland's youth climbing team.

Famed British climber Leon Houlding climbed the Old Man of Hoy when he was 11 years old.

The alpinist has since gone to summit Mount Everest and became the first Briton to free climb El Capitan in California's Yosemite Valley.