Sara Cox has raised a final total of £10,169,084 for Children in Need it was revealed live on BBC Radio 2 Breakfast on Monday morning.
The Breakfast Show host Scott Mills, 51, shared the news with listeners as Sara, 50, thanked them for donating to raise money for charity.
Sara has received congratulations from all sorts of public figures from Prince William to Stormzy after completing the mammoth 135-mile challenge.
Sharing the her thanks for the public’s support, Sara said: ‘Our £10 million is the fivers, tenners, and twenties of Radio 2 listeners and Children In Need supporters, who have each given their hard-earned cash so it means the absolute world.’
Scott revealed that roughly £35,000 was generously raised just from the buckets on the sidelines of Sara’s route alone.
Discussing her achievement, Sara said: ‘Oh my god, we done the £10m…I can’t believe it. You absolute legends, that’s incredible! Oh my gosh, thank you so much. That’s going to change and help so many lives, so many kids, thank you so much!’
Sara Cox has raised a final total of £10,169,084 for Children in Need it was revealed live on BBC Radio 2 Breakfast on Monday morning
The Breakfast Show host Scott Mills, 51, shared the news with listeners as Sara, 50, thanked them for donating to raise money for charity
Sara has received congratulations from all sorts of public figures from Prince William to Stormzy after completing the mammoth 135-mile challenge
A TV crew followed Sara’s journey for a behind-the-scenes appeal film, Sara Cox: Every Step of the Way for Children In Need, which airs on BBC One on Wednesday 19th November at 8pm, and it will be available to view from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
Speaking live on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show with Scott, Sara said: ‘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!’
Scott told Sara that his heart ‘broke’ for her on Friday evening when he saw her wearing a pair of Crocs after completing the challenge.
Referring to her sore and swollen feet from the run, Sara said: ‘I had to put the Crocs on and even that was a squeeze.
‘I had to really wrestle my Crocs on because my feet have a lot of fluid on them and you know… You know when you have the flu and at the end you make a brew and you are wiped out? I am like that.
Carrying a Pudsey Bear backpack, the DJ travelled through Durham, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire on her journey.
Sara crossed the finish line in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, on Friday, conquering her gruelling 135-mile Great Northern Marathon Challenge for Children in Need.
After crossing the finish line, Sara revealed to Scott Mills and Radio 2 listeners that music got her through the challenge: ‘I would like to thank Chase and Status and Stormzy for Backbone. And I’d like to apologise to my son because on telly, if it stays on the documentary, I am singing that song quite a lot and it’s so cringe.
Scott revealed that roughly £35,000 was generously raised just from the buckets on the sidelines of Sara’s route alone
A TV crew followed Sara’s journey for a behind-the-scenes appeal film, Sara Cox: Every Step of the Way for Children In Need
‘So I am so sorry to my kids. We spend a lot of time playing brilliant music on Radio 2… I was singing along at one point like a mad woman, singing along to Blur, and all sorts just to try and push through.’
Sara also reflected on her response to a good luck message from Prince William.
Prince William recorded a video message, which was played by Scott on his Radio 2 breakfast show. He said: ‘Sara, massive congratulations for what you’re doing.
‘You’re so nearly there, 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.
‘Keep going, you’ve done fantastically well, and the nation’s so proud of you.’
Scott said: ‘You weren’t expecting Prince William on Friday were you?’
Sara replied: ‘I think I said ‘big up your bad self’ to the future king, can I apologise now? It was lovely, it was amazing.’
This morning, Stormzy sent Sara a message celebrating her triumphant 135-mile Great Northern Marathon Challenge: ‘Hey Sara, what’s going on, it’s Stormzy here.
‘Just wanted to say a big congratulations to you for completing 5 marathons in 5 days, which is just insane.
Sara crossed the finish line in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, on Friday, conquering her gruelling 135-mile Great Northern Marathon Challenge for Children in Need
‘And it is five more marathons than I’ve done in my life so again massive congrats, and salute to you for raising all that money for such a beautiful wonderful cause. We’re all very proud of you. God bless you and take care, lots of love.’
Sara reacts to Stormzy’s moving message: ‘That’s so amazing. Thank you so much. That’s a lovely surprise. I don’t normally like surprises. That’s amazing. He completely…his voice got me through. His voice got me through on his Chase & Status track on Backbone, I was just rapping along to that. I do apologise, if that makes it into Wednesday’s documentary.’
Sara talks to Scott about the physical challenges she has faced and how she is feeling now, saying ‘I can’t promise there won’t be tears on Wednesday. I am all over the place if I am honest. I have been chatting to Nick the physio a lot over the last couple of days, asking him questions; Is this normal? Should my feet be like this?
‘And it’s been really helpful. There is stuff going on that I didn’t realise. They kept feeling my ankle bones and they were just checking, him and Ian the medic, that I didn’t have stress fractures in my feet or they…but the pain was so bad and the swelling was so big, they were checking I wasn’t breaking my own legs while I was running. I am so glad they didn’t mention that.
‘I just thought it was shin splints and my body was swelling up to stop me running. My body was like okay stop running now but I just had to crack on and I couldn’t have done it without anybody on the side of the road.
‘It was dark and rainy and icy cold and you would be in the middle of nowhere like and suddenly would emerge…like six people, cowering in the rain with a home-made sign that was all soggy in the rain and they were incredible.’
Scott Mills spoke to Radio 2 listener Dorothy, who Sara praised during her Great Northern Marathon Challenge for kindly lending her bathroom, Dorothy tells Scott and Sara: ‘Well nothing really. Just let her use the loo.
‘She would have come over what people would have described as mountains but it was fog, wind, rain…she had gone through all that and in the end she asked, having to take her shoes off, to go to the toilet and I thought that is horrendous to have to do that.
‘She has come all this way to have to bend down and take her shoes off to put them back on again.’
