Cake or Death's Groovy News

[from Channel 4 News]

Comedian Eddie Izzard is due to meet Gordon Brown after completing 43 marathons in 51 days.

The 47-year-old finished his final run on Tuesday afternoon, pounding his way to London’s Trafalgar Square in the pouring rain.

His 1,100 mile-plus mega-marathon has already raised more than £200,000 for Sport Relief.

Thanks to Andrew Brown for these great pics of Eddie in Scotland.

[from walesonline.co.uk]

ATTEMPTING 34 marathons in seven weeks would be no laughing matter for even the most seasoned of athletes.

But for a self-professed out-of-shape stand-up comic, described somewhat generously by their publicist as “not a runner”, it would certainly seem an impossible task.

Tell that to Eddie Izzard, who finally made it to Cardiff yesterday as part of his gruelling 1,100-mile run around the UK to raise money for Sport Relief.

Having set off from London last Monday, and despite having “blisters on his blisters”, the flamboyant 47-year-old funny man revealed he now intended to extend the Welsh leg of his 30-mile-a-day journey because of how much being here meant to him.

“We lived in Skewen for a couple of years when I was young and it was while we were here that mum died,” said Eddie. He was only six when he lost his midwife mother Dorothy to cancer in 1968. “So being back has been quite emotional, a bit of a head spinner, and I really wanted to be able to run past my old house while I’m here.”

His journey takes him on from Swansea, through Powys and back towards the Shropshire border.

Izzard got the idea for the colossal challenge from watching a programme on Kalahari bushmen. “They hunt their prey for up to three days straight until the poor creature’s exhausted and can’t go any further.

“And that’s how we all did things thousands of years ago, not sitting behind computers, eating ice lollies, playing computer games and watching Die Hard as we tend to do these days. That’s not what these bodies of ours were built for, surely?” he added.

Eddie Izzard meets the Leader as he runs through Wrexham for Sport Relief 2009.

Photo set is posted on FLICKR.