BBC Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox has begun her epic 135-mile ultramarathon challenge for Children in Need.
She started from Kielder Forest, on the English / Scottish border, on Monday morning and is first aiming to reach the town of Hexham in Northumberland by the evening.
Her route will then continue to head south over the next four days, reaching the finish destination of Pudsey in Yorkshire on Friday – and she will be carrying Children in Need’s Pudsey Bear all the way there on what is the 40th anniversary of the iconic mascot.
‘A terrifying privilege’
This year’s endurance test is called the Great Northern Marathon Challenge.
To put the 135-mile route into perspective, it’s the distance of just over five marathons across five days. Or 43 5km parkruns.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast just before starting her challenge, Cox admitted: “It’s a terrifying privilege, it’s a terrifying, scary, very tiring privilege to do this… so I’ve trained hard and I’m ready for it. You have no choice but to say yes because it’s a chance to raise lots of money and change lives.”
The ‘toughest’ one yet
And DJ Scott Mills, who set Sara on her way during his breakfast show, said: “This is the toughest challenge, simply put, that we have ever put one of our presenters through… way harder than Vernon’s. Way harder than Paddy’s. It’s brutal this one.”
Vernon Kay raised over £6million for BBC Children in Need’s 2023 Appeal when he covered 115 miles from Leicester’s Victoria Park to his hometown Bolton Wanderers’ football stadium, powered only by his own two feet.
Paddy McGuinness meanwhile raised £10.3million with his Ultra Endurance Cycle Challenge for BBC Children in Need last year, which saw him cycle 300 miles from Wrexham to Glasgow on a Raleigh Chopper bike.
Children in Need will be broadcast on Friday, November 14, 2025, with the three-hour live show from Salford starting at 7pm on BBC One.
If you’d like to support Sara with a text or online donation, you can find all the details at bbc.co.uk/sara
