Comedian John Bishop's Sport Relief challenge
08:00, 02 March 2012
updated: 16:02, 02 May 2019
Exhausted comedian John Bishop has
finished his mammoth charity triathlon - spurred on by huge support
from people in Kent.
The 45-year-old left Gravesend at
about 8.45am to the cheers of about 100 supporters.
The Liverpudlian finished his 28-mile
run to London's Trafalgar Square at about 5.30pm.
It was the final stage of his
challenge to run the distance of three marathons from Dover to the
capital.
He was spurred on yesterday by crowds
of well-wishers who lined his route - and surprise guests comedian
Frank Skinner and DJ Chris Moyles.
Bishop went three miles off
course to visit the Rochester Math School yesterday afternoon,
where pupils had raised £28,000 for Sport Relief.
He ran 28 miles from Faversham yesterday, through Medway and
Higham to Gravesend before a celebration in the town's Community
Square and a night at the town's Premier Inn hotel - where he
recuperated with an ice bath.
One of Bishop's biggest fans must be 61-year-old Rita
Hunter, from Higham, who has followed the comedian's progress by
car since he reached Faversham - and plans to support him right to
Trafalgar Square.
The comedian cycled, rowed and ran
more than 290 miles from Paris to London for Sport Relief.
He rode 185 miles from Paris to Calais on Monday, where he
teamed up with television personality Davina McCall, athlete Denise
Lewis and cricketer Freddie Flintoff to row across the Channel.
They set off just after 9.30am on Tuesday and landed
by Dover Marina, next to Dover Lifeboat, eight hours later.
He started the first of his three marathons on Wednesday
morning, arriving in Faversham to crowds of supporters by
mid-afternoon.
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John Bishop was greeted
by pupils at the Rochester Math School
The epic challenge started to
take its toll on Bishop's body.
He has suffered sickness and is having
to wear compression tights on his legs and ice boots to reduce the
swelling in his feet.
Bishop was treated en route by a
medic and even stopped for some acupuncture.
Earlier, he said: "The back of my legs need a lot of support and
my Achilles is still really sore but I'm taking painkillers and
I've just got to keep going.
"It's tough because I've not eaten much; when you do this much
exercise your body starts saying enough is enough and rejects what
you try to put into it."
Bishop is aiming to raise £1million - enough to pay for a
vaccine against five deadly diseases for 250,000 children in
Africa.
Celebrities Davina
McCall, Denise Lewis, Freddie Flintoff and John Bishop rowed
from Calais to Dover. Picture: Phil Houghton Photography