RADIO and TV presenter Vernon Kay says his body is exhausted after running 116 miles to raise more than £4.3m for BBC Children in Need – but he reckons the support from fans has kept him going.
After reaching the finish line of his four-day ultra marathon race yesterday, the 49-year-old Radio 2 star admitted: “I take so many painkillers I’d pass out if I drank half a pint.”
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DJ Vernon Kay crosses the finish line after running 116 miles in four days Credit: Instagram
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Vernon said: ‘We raised a million pounds a day. I never in a million years expected that’Credit: instagram
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Thousands of fans cheered Vernon on as he raised funds for Children In NeedCredit: BBC
Around 400 people, including his mum and dad, cheered him on at his home town’s Bolton Wanderers stadium as he completed the feat. But he had to settle for a phone call from wife Tess Daley, who is in Blackpool to host Strictly Come Dancing.
Vernon said: “We raised a million pounds a day. I never in a million years expected that. I am physically affected. Both big nails fall off.
“My right Achilles is swollen and my right knee is wobbly. I never want to look at my sports watch again.”
Vernon began the challenge in Leicester on Tuesday. Thousands of fans cheered him along, and he revealed: “I have 57 playlists on my phone and I haven’t listened to a single song. People pulled me out. A man walking his dog said to me, ‘You said something on the radio when you started. I was in a really dark place and you managed to give my son his father back.’
“I’m on top of Kinder, I’m freezing, I can’t see more than 20 feet in front of me and I just realized that being on the radio means so much to this man. It gives you a boost.
“There was a lady who stopped by the road. She said: ‘I lost my husband two weeks ago and I’ve just been told I have terminal cancer.’
“Then we had a woman who had just lost a baby. She hugged me and cried in my arms. All those special stories pushed me forward.”
During the trip Vernon ran through Leicester and Derby before passing through the Peak District, Stockport and on to Manchester and Bolton.
But he told The Sun he struggled after climbing the Peak District Kinder Scout – 636 meters (2,086ft).
He said: “We really hit a wall. I just couldn’t get anything positive. I said, ‘Can we stop here, spend the day in bed and maybe start Thursday at midnight?’
“They said, ‘That’s not going to happen.'”
You can still donate to Vernon’s challenge at bbc.co.uk/vernon
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Vernon is cheered on by students from his former schoolCredit: BBC
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Vernon started the challenge in Leicester on TuesdayCredit: Tracey Welch BBC
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During the course Vernon ran through Leicester and Derby before passing through the Peak District, Stockport and on to Manchester and Bolton Credit: INSTAGRAM
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