Sport Relief 2010
A whole evening’s television will be devoted to Sport Relief on Friday 19th March 2010 on BBC 1 with special programmes throughout the weekend, including a unique version of Let’s Dance for Sport Relief and tailored editions of Masterchef and Top Gear; Frank Skinner will host A Question of Sport Relief and James Cordon, from the popular Gavin and Stacey show, will introduce a brand new ‘Smithy’ sketch.
But the most important participants are the members of the public who will take part in the Sport Relief Mile event.
Designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister’s sub four-minute mile, the Mile events take place across the country when celebrities and public alike take up the challenge of completing their own mini marathon: in 2006 more than 423,000 people jogged, ran, walked, wheeled, bounced, hopped or bounced their way along one, three or six mile designated runs in an unprecedented run for charity.
This year, The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile takes place on Sunday 21st March.
You can search for the event nearest to you and enter online at www.sportrelief.co.uk. With official T-shirts designed by all the Beckham family, this year’s affair promises to be the most stylish Sports Relief ever!
There are also plenty of ideas on the site as to how you can go about organising an event, getting sponsors and advice about becoming one yourself. If you decide to take part in the Sport Relief Mile, there are loads of ways in which you can maximise your success by using emails, texts, tweets, Facebook or local newspaper to publicise your attempt.
To put things in perspective: the sum of £110 could enable four people living in remote villages in Uganda to be trained in medical techniques to help save the lives of children with malaria.
Sport Relief: 19 March – 21 March 2010
If you’ve been putting off doing something physically active for a while, then the 19th to 21st March 2010 could be the time to don your trainers and your trackeys and help raise some money for disadvantaged people in the UK and across the world.
Sport Relief is a biennial event that has become one of Britain’s biggest fundraisers, and in 2008 raised £19.5 million for deserving causes.
There are big names in sport and entertainment who are rising to the challenge and inspiring people across the UK to do the same – so why don’t you?
Taking part is a real opportunity to change people’s lives – it’s also fun, it’s a day off work, and it’s an excuse to wear some amazing Sport Relief stripy socks!
Sport Relief Events
Founded by the BBC in 2002 in association with the charity Comic Relief, Sport Relief brings together famous faces from the worlds of sport and entertainment to help vulnerable people everywhere.
In the past we’ve witnessed amazing feats and challenges on TV: events in 2002 took a surprise swing when a tennis match was televised live between Ilie Nastase, Alistair McGowan, Pat Cash and none other than the UK’s prime minister at the time, Tony Blair.
He went on to win four sets to one!
In 2006 Chris Evans, Nick Faldo and Gary Lineker took part in a hilarious pitching competition on the roof of the TV studio, when the target for their balls were giant cut-outs of the mouths of Jimmy Tarbuck and Bruce Forsyth – say no more.
And who could ever forget Sport Relief 2008 when the star of Little Britain, David Walliams, swam the channel and raised over £1 million in donations? We were with him every chilling inch of the way as we watched from the safety of our armchairs.
In 2010, celebrities are embarking on some of the most adventurous and extraordinary challenges to date: Christine Bleakley from The One Show will attempt to water-ski across the English Channel powered by Thomson Sport – by her own admission she can neither Water ski nor swim “particularly well”, but what the heck!; Blue Peter’s Helen Skelton is making a bid to become the first woman to kayak the Amazon River, whilst rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio is cycling 2,800 km around the rugby Six Nations stadiums – in just 24 days.