{"id":570494,"date":"2025-11-14T19:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570494\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:45:13","slug":"sara-cox-completes-five-marathon-challenge-and-raises-7m-for-children-in-need-children-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/570494\/","title":{"rendered":"Sara Cox completes five-marathon challenge and raises \u00a37m for Children in Need | Children in Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC presenter Sara Cox has completed her challenge to run 135 miles in five days, which has raised more than \u00a37m for the Children in Need<\/a> charity.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old, who presents Radio 2\u2019s Teatime show on weekdays, crossed the finish line for her great northern marathon challenge at about 3.30pm on Friday after covering the equivalent of five marathons in five days. She was greeted by a performance by the former Spice Girl Melanie C<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Carrying a Pudsey Bear backpack, the DJ travelled through Durham, North Yorkshire<\/a> and West Yorkshire on her journey, during which she received a number of messages of support from famous names, including the Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n

Cox, who crossed the finish line in Pudsey, Leeds<\/a>, having started in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, said: \u201cThat was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done. Oh my gosh, I can\u2019t believe it \u2026 hello Yorkshire!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an honorary Yorkshirewoman now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge is the longest tackled by Radio 2 as part of the annual fundraiser.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Scott Mills on the station, she said: \u201cIt\u2019s just the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever done \u2013 I\u2019ve never known pain like it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, I\u2019ve never had eye contact with so many amazing women who have just powered me on.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the side of the road, in the driving rain, it was bitterly cold. The truck drivers honking their horns, the farmers stopping work just to come and say hi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to everybody who let me stop for a wee at their house \u2013 it was a few people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Prince William\u2019s video message, which was played by Mills on his breakfast show, he said: \u201cSara, massive congratulations for what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re so nearly there \u2013 just a little bit further and I know the people of Pudsey will all come out and welcome you with huge open arms, big hugs and, hopefully, lots of your favourite crumpets.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep going \u2013 you\u2019ve done fantastically well and the nation\u2019s so proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melanie C said: \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re taking every step with her. I feel quite emotional already.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yeah, I just think this is one of those \u2026 it\u2019s incredible what she\u2019s achieved and I can\u2019t wait for her to cross that finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould Sporty [Spice] have done it? I\u2019d like to think so, but I\u2019m not sure \u2026 this is a testament to humans \u2013 we are all capable of so much more than we realise and Sara\u2019s our poster girl for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox said she received a call from her mother and sister in India as she passed a telephone box during Thursday\u2019s longest leg from Richmond to Ripley.<\/p>\n

The BBC\u2019s annual Children in Need telethon starts on BBC<\/a> iPlayer and BBC One at 7pm on Friday.<\/p>\n

The evening, hosted by Paddy McGuinness, Big Zuu, Mel Giedroyc, Rochelle Humes, Vernon Kay and Lenny Rush, will include performances from acts such as the McFly singer Tom Fletcher and the girl band Remember Monday, alongside sketches from The Apprentice, EastEnders and Gladiators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC presenter Sara Cox has completed her challenge to run 135 miles in five days, which has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-570494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115549773701156804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}