Sport Relief History

2012
2010
2008
2006
2004
2002

Sport Relief 2012 - Go the Extra Mile

In March 2012, the nation truly went the extra mile for Sport Relief.

Paving the way were a host of famous faces who put themselves through agony to inspire the whole of the country to support the campaign.

TV personality David Walliams was the first to take the plunge when he swam 140 miles along the River Thames. Then Blue Peter’s Helen Skelton travelled 500 miles to the South Pole in just 18 days by ski, kite-ski and by bike. And who could forget John Bishop’s Week of Hell when the brave comedian cycled, rowed and ran his way from Paris to London in just five days?

And one of the nation’s best-loved cricketers, Freddie Flintoff also proved he could do more than just bat and bowl when he broke 14 Guinness World Records in twelve hours.

As if that wasn’t enough, everyone was treated to a night of star-studded TV on BBC One as Miranda, Ab Fab and Outnumbered created special sketches for the big Sport Relief show. There was even an under-water version of Strictly Come Dancing to keep everyone on their toes.

All of this inspiring activity encouraged the nation to fundraise and to enter the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile. In fact, across the Sport Relief Weekend, over one million people took part in Mile events up and down the UK and raised millions of pounds in the process.

Some of the celebrities who took part included James Cracknell, Kara Tointon, Dame Kelly Holmes, Louise Redknapp, Gary Lineker, Sir Steve Redgrave, JLS and Olly Murs. And for the first time ever, the London Mile took place along the Mall with spectacular views of Buckingham Palace.

Everyone’s fundraising efforts helped to raise a record-breaking £67,977,824 – a lot of cash to change a lot of lives.

Sport Relief 2010 - Rise to the Challenge

The nation certainly did rise to the challenge in 2010, with over 175,000 people taking to the streets on Sunday 21st March to complete the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile!  An incredible 350 events throughout the UK saw families, friends and even a future Prime Minister – David Cameron – joined by stars of sport and TV including Colin Jackson, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, Fat Boy Slim and Theo Paphitis.  They all went the distance to raise cash to help change lives.

But the fun didn’t stop there. Yet again a host of famous faces decided to rise to the challenge.

Comedian Eddie Izzard ran around the UK, completing an astonishing 43 marathons in 51 days and raising a mind blowing £1.8 million!

David Walliams and his team of merry men (and women) including Fearne Cotton, Jimmy Carr, Davina McCall, Patrick Kielty, Miranda Hart, and Russell Howard cycled non-stop from one end of the UK to the other in 82 gruelling hours – raising an incredible £1.3m.

Christine Bleakley water-skied her way across the English Channel in 100 minutes, Lawrence Dallaglio cycled across six countries in 27 days as he travelled to each of the 6 Nation’s stadiums, and Helen Skelton spent 6 weeks kayaking 2010 miles along the Amazon – breaking 2 world records in the process.

And to cap it all off, the nation got to enjoy a fantastic night of TV on the BBC which saw music from Robbie Williams and Annie Lennox, and Rufus Hound performing Cheryl Cole’s ‘Fight for this Love’ (his winning routine from Let’s Dance for Sport Relief). And who can forget Smithy, who was crowned “Coach of the Year” at the Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony.

All of this incredible activity led to a record breaking £44 million being raised and a lot of lives being changed for the better as a result.

Sport Relief 2008 - Rise to the Challenge

Sport Relief, for the very first time, took over an entire weekend with three days of entertainment, events and energy designed to challenge the nation from Friday 14th – Sunday 16th March.

The ultimate way to get involved was doing a Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile and, for the first time ever, people could set themselves the challenge of doing 1, 3 or 6 Miles.

Over half a million people participated in a Sport Relief event during the campaign.  In addition to overwhelming public support, a host of famous faces rose to the challenge too.

Olympic gold medal winning rower, James Cracknell rowed 22 miles across the English Channel and cycled more than 1,000 miles through France and Spain – before linking up with David Walliams to swim 12 miles across Strait of Gibraltar. And Alan Shearer and Adrian Chiles cycled 335 miles from St James's Park, Newcastle, to BBC Television Centre, London, in just 36 hours arriving at the studio in time for the live Friday Night show.

Overall Sport Relief 2008 raised a record breaking £28 million.

Sport Relief 2006 - Go the Extra Mile

420,000 people took part in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile in 15 National Mile Events and in local Miles all over the UK. And adding to the fantastic weekend of entertainment was the 370 celebrities from the world of sport and entertainment who supported the event.

McFly provided musical backing with the Queen track 'Don't Stop Me Now' which entered the charts at number 1, and and who will forget the special, last ever episode of Footballers Wives featuring Graham Norton.

Meanwhile, Little Britain's David Walliams swam the Channel from England to France in just 10 ½ hours – one of the 50 fastest times ever – raising a phenomenal £1 million in the process!

The great British public certainly did go the extra mile, raising over £18 million.

Sport Relief 2004 - Go the Extra Mile

80,000 people took part in the first ever Sport Relief Mile, and even Prince William got into the swing of things and donned his running shoes to take part.  Other celebrity Milers included Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sir Steve Redgrave, Jonathan Ross, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Frank Bruno, Chris Moyles, Rachel Stevens, Jo Brand and many, many more.

Rachel Stevens recorded 'Some Girls', and the story for the very stylish video was written by Richard Curtis and also featured Colin Jackson, Pat Cash and Audley Harrison.  And the British public were treated to some fun aggression with Celebrity Boxing which saw Ben “The Bear” Fogle beat Sid “The Snake” Owen.

A very sporty £16.8 million was raised.

Sport Relief 2002

Elton John reworked his classic track, 'Your Song', with operatic star Alessandro Safina providing spine-tingling additional vocals especially for the very first Sport Relief. The video featured a number of sporting heroes including David Beckham, Steve Redgrave and Denise Lewis. 'Your Song' reached Number 4 in the music charts.

A fabulous night of TV on the BBC included A Question of Sport Relief featuring the likes of Gary Linekar and Frank Skinner, and the one-off resurrection of the popular BBC series Superstars in which sporting champions including Sir Steve Redgrave, Chris Boardman, Dwight Yorke, Martin Offiah and Austin Healey competed for the covered Telegraph Trophy.

An amazing £14.4 million was raised, and to top it off, over 120,000 Sport Relief Medals were sold!