Comedian Eddie Izzard is running‚ walking and crawling across Eastern Cape roads in an attempt to run 27 consecutive marathons for charity.
The British #MarathonMan is trying to raise support for Sport Relief in honour of South African statesman Nelson Mandela. His target of 27 runs is to commemorate Madiba’s years in prison.
Eddie has faced a similar challenge before. In 2009 he completed 43 marathons in just 51 days, raising over one million pounds.
The actor has raised more than £200,000 during the first 10 days of his gruelling 27-marathon challenge.
He has chosen to run the 700-plus miles over 27 days to reflect the 27 years that Nelson Mandela spent in prison in the country.
He said: “This is the toughest thing I’ve ever done but determination is key, and I’m determined to finish this time.
“Thank you for all the support, please keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing!”
In the first week, Eddie was ordered to rest after completing four marathons in four days but has since completed 14 days of consecutive running.
A BBC spokesman said: “After medical advice, Eddie visited a hospital in South Africa for tests. Eddie is in good spirits and is looking forward to continuing his marathon of marathons.”
Izzard tried to do the same challenge in South Africa in 2012‚ but pulled out before being able to achieve it.
The route he is running includes where Madiba grew up‚ on Robben Island where he was jailed and ending at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where Mandela was inaugurated as the country’s first democratically elected president.
He was previously quoted as saying he decided he wanted to run in South Africa as a way of belatedly honouring all those who struggled against apartheid. “I was thinking about what I had done to demonstrate against apartheid and I realised I didn’t eat the fruit from South Africa‚ that’s all I did.”
