On Monday 27th February, comedian John Bishop set out on an epic journey that was to cover 290 gruelling miles over five days all in the aid of Sport Relief, where so far an amazing ñ,660,198 has been raised.
John Bishopֳ journey started out from the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris where he cycled a staggering 185 miles to Calais in 18 and a half hours, then just having an hour of sleep he started his 26 mile row across the English Channel where he was helped by three celebrities – Davina McCall, Denise Lewis and Freddie Flintoff. During the 26 mile row, which took seven hours and 45 minutes John Bishop suffered from exhaustion, hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep and a very bruised backside.
Just the next day John Bishop started the final part of his epic journey, which was to cover the length of three marathons over three consecutive days. The first marathon started at Dover and finished at Faversham, with the second marathon starting the very next day where he ran an amazing 28 miles from Faversham to Gravesend. During this time John suffered from sickness as the gruelling journey started to take its toll on his body. To help alleviate the sickness and the severe aches and pains John took regular breaks to eat and a physio was on hand to massage his tired and aching muscles in his shins and back, he also had acupuncture to help relieve the pain in his shoulder.
Before stretching and warming up for the final 28 mile run from Gravesend to London, Johnֳ legs were strapped up with bright blue kinesio tape to help support and ease the pressure on his Achilles tendons. Johnֳ right shin in particular was causing him a great deal of pain and during each break he took, more rigorous massages were needed.
As soon as John crossed the finish line in Trafalgar Square in London on Friday 2nd March, his medical team strapped him into an Aircast Walker to help support his damaged shin.
The money that John Bishop has raised for Sport Relief will go towards vaccinating 250,000 children in Africa against five serious diseases as well as helping people who lead very hard lives in the UK.
John Bishopֳ Sport Relief challenge has been captured for a BBC documentary which you can watch here!
The Sport Relief TV show airs on Friday 23rd March at 7pm.
Author: Liz Robinson