An exhausted but elated Davina McCall crossed the finish line of her BT Sport Relief Challenge: Davina – Beyond Breaking Point at 4.10pm on Friday… having run, swum and cycled over 450 miles from Edinburgh to London in just seven days.
The challenge is sponsored by BT, a long-term supporter of Comic Relief challenges since 2009.
So far, Davina has raised an incredible £760,026 but it’s not too late for the public to show their support – sponsor Davina at sportrelief.com/davina.
Fighting against extreme fatigue, aching limbs and fearsome weather, Davina pushed through the pain barrier to run a marathon on the final day of her challenge. She took her final few strides to a triumphant finish at the Millennium Bridge by Tate Modern and was greeted by crowds of cheering supporters – including her husband Matthew, who put her wedding ring back on her finger as promised.
As Davina celebrated completing her epic challenge, she said: "I can’t believe it was me! Thank you to anybody that’s donated, that’s why I did it.
“The team that got me here, they just carried me through. And Matt and the doctors and the physios.
“My kids – I just hugged them, it was amazing! I’ve just got to stop crying!”
“This challenge was for Sport Relief, it was for women and children living really hard lives, not just here but all over the world. It was a really important cause for me to be able to help other women."
Speaking while draped in a Union Flag and after hearing the total raised so far for her incredible challenge, a humble Davina said: "Wearing this is like being an Olympian, but I don’t really feel like I should be allowed to wave the flag around!
“Thank you all, it means the world to me. And if you can donate anything it would be even better.”
Davina set off on the BT Sport Relief Challenge: Davina – Beyond Breaking Point from Edinburgh Castle on Saturday 8th February, tackling a punishing 130 mile cycle on day one – equivalent to some of the longest stages on the Tour De France. Over the next six days she battled brutal conditions including swimming the life-threateningly cold Lake Windermere, scaling the colossal Scafell Pike on foot in freezing snow, and today finished after seven tortuous days by running a full marathon into London.
Davina’s challenge was all about girl power. She was joined by famous female friends along the route, including Claudia Winkleman, Denise Lewis, Jo Brand, Laura Whitmore, Sophie Raworth, Martina Navratilova and Victoria Pendleton, and was spurred along by her ultimate goal of helping projects that work to help women. In many developing countries, simply being born female can mean a lifetime of added dangers and challenges, and money raised from the challenge will be spent to help change the lives of thousands of women and girls in Kenya as well as transform lives in the UK and around the world.
BT is today giving £40,000 to support Davina as part of the £350,000 it has committed to raise in support of The BT Sport Relief Challenges: Davina – Beyond Breaking Point.
All the ups and downs of Davina’s challenge will be captured for a BBC documentary, to be broadcast in the run up to Sport Relief Weekend, which is taking place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March.
