Sara Cox, a BBB Radio 2 star, ran 135 miles in just five days to raise more than £10million for Children in Need, calling it “a lot tougher” than expected.
BBC Radio 2 stars were “worried” for Sara Cox after she was left “broken” by a personal phone call during her gruelling marathon challenge. The moment came as the 50-year-old star covered 135 miles over five days whilst helping to raise over £10 million for Children in Need.
Sara ran, ran, and jogged from Scotland’s border to Pudsey in Yorkshire in the Great Northern Marathon Challenge, all while wearing the iconic Children in Need mascot, Pudsey bear. The marathon-runner weaved through Northumberland, County Durham, North Yorkshire, and West Yorkshire on foot, running a distance of five miles in five days.
Fellow BBC Radio 2 presenter Jo Whiley, who tracked the journey alongside colleagues, reckons Sara has achieved “national treasure” status following the extraordinary achievement. Speaking on the Dig It podcast, Jo, 60, said: “It was such an impressive feat and we were kind of checking in and going, ‘Oh God, how is she doing? How are you doing?'”.
Throughout the entire challenge, Zoe Ball revealed that her coworkers were concerned about Sara. She stated, “I think the thing that is so amazing about following someone who does a feat like that and checking in with her on social media like that is that we kind of went on that journey with her.”
And then suddenly, especially when you know someone who is so confident and physically fit, suddenly starts to struggle when you and I are checking in with each other while you were messaging her at the end of the night like, “Are you alright? ” Because you could tell how broken she was.
The 54-year-old continued, “And knowing that she was suffering and suffering, and that day was going by faster and harder each day, it was really worrying. You can’t help but feel emotional if she manages to get through it.
In a particular situation, Zoe recalls Sara becoming teary after witnessing her brother and sister in a crowd of supporters. The TV star then called her mother, and Zoe claimed to have witnessed the “vulnerability” written across her pal’s face, which raised questions in the support team.
She continued, “You know, we all experience those emotions when you’re struggling and you hear or see from a family member.” You leave and she picked up the call from her mother and her young face. Oh my goodness God. You know, at every opportunity you just saw her vulnerability and how difficult that was for her, and you checked in with various team members who were all so worried about her and proud of her for surviving that.
Sara’s five-day challenge has managed to raise over £10million for Children in Need, including approximately £35,000 collected in buckets along her route. “Our £10 million is the fivers, tenners, and twenties of Radio 2 listeners and Children In Need supporters, who have each individually given their hard-earned cash, so it means the absolute world,” she shared on BBC Breakfast.
She made an appearance on the main Children in Need show on Friday night, donning a pair of Crocs clogs to aid her feet’s recovery. Speaking to Scott Mills on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday, Cox admitted: “It was a lot tougher than I ever expected and the recovery was much tougher. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was thinking: ‘Oh I will get home and Saturday and Sunday I will probably just take the dogs for a gentle walk.’ I can’t really walk!”
When asked about her choice of footwear on Friday night, she responded, “I had to put the Crocs on, and even that was a squeeze.” Because my feet have a lot of fluid on them and, you know, you know when you have the flu and end up in a brew and being wiped out, I had to wrestle my Crocs on. That’s how I look.
