Eddie Izzard begins first of 27 marathons in 27 days in South Africa for Sport Relief

Eddie Izzard has today set off on day one of his Sport Relief challenge – a staggering attempt to complete 27 marathons in 27 days across South Africa.

Published: 23 February 2016
If I fail, I will come back again and again and again until I do succeed. Because that's what Nelson Mandela would have done.
— Eddie Izzard

He set off at 6.30am from Mbashe Bridge, near the town of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape of South Africa - the birthplace of Nelson Mandela, who inspired Eddie to take on this epic challenge. Over the next 27 days Eddie will aim to run over 700 miles in temperatures of up to 30°C.

BBC Three will exclusively cover Eddie’s journey from his first marathon from today (Tuesday 23 February) to his last marathon planned for Sunday 20 March.

About the challenge

Eddie has chosen 27 marathons to reflect the 27 years that Nelson Mandela spent in prison. Throughout his journey, he will explore the history of South Africa and Nelson Mandela as well as visiting communities, organisations and families that have all been helped by the work of Comic Relief. This mammoth undertaking will culminate in Pretoria on Sunday 20 March, at the same time as the Sport Relief Games will be taking place across the UK.

Eddie’s route will trace the story of Nelson Mandela’s life: starting in his birthplace, before journeying to the school and university that he attended, then on to Cape Town and Robben Island, where he was imprisoned.

Throughout the challenge, the public can keep up to date with Eddie’s progress via bbc.co.uk/bbcthree and BBC Three’s social feeds where there will be live updates throughout each day in the form of videos, blogs, personal dairies, route map and much more.

Click here to see Eddie setting off from Mbashe Bridge near Mvezo: http://bbc.in/1QzlhOe

If Eddie completes all 27 marathons, he will end at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where Nelson Mandela gave his inaugural speech as the first democratically elected President of South Africa in 1994.

The money raised for Sport Relief from the Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man challenge will be used to help transform the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people both at home in the UK and across the world’s poorest communities

Q&A with Eddie Izzard

This is an incredible feat. Why did you want to take on this challenge?

I was inspired to run 27 marathons in 27 days for Sport Relief after seeing the film Invictus. The film featured a poem called Invictus - one of Nelson Mandela's favourite poems during his 27 years in prison. He used it to give himself determination to keep himself going and keep his spirit alive. It's a beautiful poem about being the master of your own fate and destiny.

Watching the film I suddenly realised - I have to run in South Africa. I should run 27 marathons in 27 days as a salute to the great man. It is also a salute to all who struggled and fought against Apartheid. So I am delighted to be doing this for Sport Relief. But of course - 27 marathons in 27 days is nothing compared to what Nelson Mandela did by serving 27 years in prison. He was a great soul and leaves a fantastic legacy for the world.

I tried to do this four years ago in 2012 and failed. This time I will succeed. But if I fail, I will come back again and again and again until I do succeed. Because that's what Nelson Mandela would have done.

What training have you done to prepare?

I have been prepared since the day that I stopped back in 2012. Since 2012, I have been prepared to go back. I stay match fit the whole time but I don’t have a complete regime - I am holistic in my approach to things.

What route will you be taking?

I am going to start in Mvezo in the Eastern Cape where Nelson Mandela was born, and then I will be running all through the Eastern Cape which is very rugged, very rural, very tough and it is going to be hotter than hotness. It will be from there all the way down to Cape Town. Cape Town is a beautiful city, but also just off of it is Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years out of the 27 in prison. We will finish up in Johannesburg and Pretoria, up on the steps of the Union Buildings, where he was made President, the first democratically elected leader of South Africa. It will be the end of marathon 27 – which I intend to get to this time.

What will be your motivation along the way?

Don’t get Rhabdomyolysis* and to keep going - the fact that Nelson Mandela did 27 years in prison – I am just trying to do 27 days – this is nothing. If you stack it up in your head right, 27 marathons or 27 years? At the end of each day, we will read out things that happen at the end of the first year, second year and so on.

What do you think the hardest part will be?

The first 10 marathons will be the hardest, after the first 10 it gets easier as the brain starts talking to the body – “So what’s tomorrow? Are we doing another marathon? When’s it going to stop?”, “I don’t know!” So the mind gets in sync and the team and everyone gets on top of everything, we know what we are doing.

I do remember after marathon three on the UK marathon, one of the people I was working with was asking, “when are we going to get into a system?” We were kind of working it out as we went along... to a certain extent, you have to train on the job – I will acclimatise to the heat and rugged surface, and getting back in the zone of a marathon every day. I can’t do 27 marathons here in the UK to get used to 27 marathons there. All I can say is that I am concentrating on going up the stairs at The Union Buildings at the end.

Notes to Editors

*Eddie Izzard developed Rhabdomyolysis in his last attempt of 27 marathons in 27 days in South Africa in 2012.

Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man was commissioned by Damian Kavanagh and Ruby Kuraishe. The Executive Producer is Nick Catliff for Lion Television.

EH

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