Sarah Cox is a warrior. Children in Need 5 Marathons in 5 days. What is the most challenging thing you have achieved?

[TemperatureRising]

What a hero, her strength and resilience is amazing. Saw her yesterday, Gethin Jones running alongside her, she was so exhausted she could hardly speak. How she is keeping young, I don't know!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/live/cy7exkn0zjet

I think a long hike, doing my Duke of Edinburgh Award is the most physically exhausted I've ever bee, carrying a huge rucksack up hills and getting lost!

Wow!
I think she’s absolutely phenomenal and her resilience is something to aspire to. I also think the DJs on the radio are doing such a good job too, I’ve particular warmed to Trevor and Spoony this week.
She’s great and is raising a life changing amount for charity,

Go Sara!

Live, laugh, love babes xx

And she is running back to back marathons having to “entertain” and do interviews. She is fab in my opinion!

An admirable effort, but I feel for her and hope she doesn’t do herself some damage.

I did assume that but is there not still a big leap from that to doing five marathons in five days? Ultramarathons are classed as an extreme sport, because it's pushing your body beyond what it's designed to do even if you're in the best shape possible, so surely doing this would be similarly difficult?

I'm sure she readily agreed to it and everything but one would hope that presenters don't feel pressured into doing these kinds of things. What's wrong with just sitting in a bath of beans?

Ha! Trevor Nelson just said something about "women of a certain vintage" and she replied with "we are not women of a certain vintage, we are not women of a certain age. We are women over 50!" Go in Sara! 🤣

In

I agree! I think she’s brilliant. She didn’t need to do it. She could have just watched on TV or chucked a couple of quid in an envelope like the rest of us. Instead she’s running 26+ miles plus per day - in the rain - and raising millions for an excellent cause. I’ve been enjoying the updates on the radio. I think she’s great!

Surely you can see the link between her raising £3 million for a children’s charity and her helping children? I don’t think anyone is suggesting she’s literally the person saving them but she is funding a lot of jobs that help save/support children.

This. Marathons put a very real strain on the body. To do so many close together is frankly idiotic. I don't want anybody to sacrifice their own health to raise cash, it's ridiculous.

Yes I had read that. But it still makes running trickier on the body and you have to do loads of strength training to compensate. Which she couldn’t do due to arthritis. I‘m knock kneed too and was bullied for it! It does make running tricky as glutes don’t fire properly.

Doesn't the BBC have a duty of care for their employees? It is really evident that her health is not a priority here. Pushing someone to do something like this is causing her intense pain. It is uncomfortable to watch/listen to.

There are so many other ways to raise money - why does the BBC think this is a good idea? Probably because they can get a lot of a lot of footage for radio/tv for this.

I really think the BBC should rethink these challenges. And as a PP said, presenters sitting in a bath of beans as a way to raise money is a lot more fun and safer for the participant.

ME?

17 years+ on here.

Regular name changer.

Great that the evening crowd on here are so much more positive.

I also think “where’s the duty of care?” @OvernightBloats- she might be a hero. She might raise lots of money. Whoever signed off on this and didn’t cancel once she picked up an injury 2 weeks ago should be fired.

She is raising and has already raised a lot of money for very good causes. That her efforts have frankly prompted an awful lot of people to donate (over £3m has been raised) is to be applauded and shouldn’t be overlooked - can’t we just for one week put aside the cynicism and predictable negativity?
She’s an adult with free will and if she wants to do this then good on her. Fundamentally no one can make someone do this - I admire her for what’s she’s doing.

I disagree I find something quite off about watching middle aged men patronise a middle age women

By the way none of the discomfort or issue is about Sara Cox - it is about the fact that she is doing something that could end up causing her huge long term harm and the whole way or is pushed by the BBC especially when there are men in the studios telling her how much she has raised in order to pretty much emotionally blackmail her to push through her pain and discomfort

at some point its likely we’re going to have a celeb get seriously injured or die from these extreme fundraising challenges. While she’s a grown woman and can make her own choices, there will be a pressure to always do something more for these things to begin with, a feeling of I can hardly do one marathon when x and y did ten, and then during it pushing beyond what you maybe should as it’s being filmed

I agree. I think she'll come to regret it massively when she's permanently damaged her joints.

I hate these potentially damaging challenges. I won't listen or donate to this level of stupid.

Radio 1 got Jamie Laing to do Ultras for sport relief earlier this year. He didn't have a clue what he was doing and it was awful to listen to as the daft idiot was getting injured. I stopped listening by day 2 as it gave me the rage.

Vernon Kay and Paddy McGuiness have both said they came up with the idea. Shame on them I say especially Vernon as his run last year was quite long. Maybe someone with some sense at the BBC could suggest a more realistic challenge. If not then whoever suggests next year's challenge should be told well go along and do that challenge as well. I agree there could well be long term implications.

I'm not even a mother ,by choice, but can't understand why so many actual mothers, who are supposed to love children

What an odd take. No one told me that as an actual mother I'm supposed to love children en masse. Are actual fathers supposed to as well? And regardless of that mad notion, it's quite the reach to decree that not being all for a 5 marathon celeb stunt means we wish ill on vulnerable children. Talk about melodramatic.

Is that you Sara?

Scary thought police attitude on this thread.

It's OK, and in my opinion actually a good thing, to question the wisdom of this challenge. Yes, Sara is a good egg, yes CIN is overall a good thing, but no, this challenge is wrong and a serious misjudgement. That's not a controversial thing to say and definitely not something to be chided about.

Absolutely.

I'm not going to celebrate women risking a long term / permanent injury. As a 50yo runner, and someone who alsl does bootcamps, I know it's pretty stupid.

IIRC when Eddie Izzard did it, it was equally risky, but he was able to do it in private and the film was shown at a later date. He wasn't weeping on the radio while suffering and being jollied along by fellow presenters.