Sport Relief Davina McCall

Also, let's face it, if it looked a doddle, who would bother donating so much cash to charity. All that suffering for a good cause (and I'm pretty sure it was sincere - see comment above about open water swim) makes for much better TV than, "Oh look, person who's trained very hard and/or is very good at that completes challenge with no bother".

Good job done!

I'm not detracting from those who are very good and/or trained hard - also, good job done, just talking TV charity cash collection.

We were talking about this sort of thing (not Ms McCall's travails) at the weekend and we came to the conclusion that it is a lot easier to wrest cash from people's sweaty maws, if what you are doing will be a real challenge. That's people for you.

Personally, I think she did brilliantly, it was heartwarming to see someone outside the realms of pro or pro am athleticism make an achievement such as this. I've done the three day stint from LDN to Paris (for charity) before and even as someone who trains for an average of 16 hours a week that's bloody hard. To add in a freezing cold swim and the knee shattering pain of a marathon to that sounds like my idea of hell.

Also, as well as the reasonably reputable physical achievement, she's opened the country up to sports at the same time. A lot of people who might've had some level of disrespect for cyclists or runners before this may now have formed some level of appreciation for the sports. That might be hopeful thinking of course but it's nice to think that maybe, just maybe, impressionable Joe Bloggs will think twice before overtaking one of us so close - as they now know that a lot of us do what we do for passion, or charity or whatever. Hopefully she's set an example to people in Britain.

I can see why folks might not be impressed, plenty of athletes do more for less, but the bigger picture is still a positive one - it's better than Coronation Street... and I guess we're not being held at gunpoint to watch these things.

William, seriously? It's a comfort zone thing, she took herself out of hers for a cause. I'm not a fan, I don't do TV of the kind she happens to front, its all a bit tedious and vacuous but a large % of the population likes it and her. That was who she was tapping into. Its whom she was targeting to raise money from. Simple use of self. These people exist through the publicity they can gain, it used to be measured in column inches, I think it's now twitter numbers? Suffice to say she was very successful.

To denigrate her challenge rather exemplifies your own place in the world. Are you simply a sad fat middle aged man with no friends seeking contact through forums via
your ill concieved and contentious rhetoric?

If so well done you are a success, maybe not by the same measure as DC, but all the same you have raised your profile a little, gained a small degree of notoriety and put yourself firmly on the road to obscurity. HERO.

I'm not a fan, but having watched it, that was tough.

The conditions were awful and I know she had excellent support, dry clothes, massage etc. that most charity challenge people wouldn't have access to, but it was hard.

I did think the hill walking sections were really tame though!

The coach falling off his bike really took its toll on her morale.

A real stretch for a non athlete in their 40's.

Think what you will of the scope of her efforts; it's hard deny their sincerity.

It takes a particular sort of person - or more charitably - a particular sort of mood, for someone to needlessly belittle another person's most wholehearted efforts on an internet forum. Especially as an act of charity.

It's the same sort of vindictive pleasure I associate with a grown adult gleefully lapping 10 year-olds in the park.

It's tasteless, at best.

The OP needs to get a life, taking pictures of a TV because a lorry dare overtake someone on a push bike, it was probably given direction by the Police support but lets not use facts when some lorry driver bashing can be done.

£2.3m says it all. Bravo.

Her achievement, given she's a non participant in sport and in the weather she did it in, is impressive. Almost dying in near freezing water was bloody stupid.

BTW if anyone wants to watch it, the programme is on iPlayer here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03yrk3b/Davina_Beyond_Breaking_Poi...

I was stunned by her performance, to be honest. She truly was beaten up by the challenge, and it hurt like buggery - but she smiled at all those people cheering her on, took time to hat to people on the way. Good on her. I count myself as very fit indeed, and I'd shrink at a challenge like that, especially at the time of year.

I've always understood it that you are allowed to deviate from normal driving practice if directed to by a uniformed PC/Traffic Warden.

As for Davina's achievement.
1) She is not a professional athlete. She is a 46 year old mother of three.
2) What a time of year to be doing a challenge like that! Give the girl her due, she's bloody tough. My face hurts just thinking about 10 hours riding into that freezing headwind.
3) By using her status she raised more money.
4) There doesn't appear to be any 'side' with her. What you see is what you get.

So lets give her a pat on the back, a round of applause and dip into our pockets.

Ah, I stand sort of corrected...

Highway Code wrote:

129

Double white lines where the line nearest you is solid. This means you MUST NOT cross or straddle it unless it is safe and you need to enter adjoining premises or a side road. You may cross the line if necessary, provided the road is clear, to pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 26

So, was Davina travelling at less than 10 mph at that point?!

I, personally, dont like Davina but thats not what matters here. What matters is that she made a load of money for charity. As per other comments though its a shame the other lesser known people are not given the same recognition for all the tireless hard work they put into charity work.

If have not wanted to ride that week, in to those winds (it was block headwind) and that rain. The walking looked fun, the swimming looked hell. There are some mean spirited people who say "blah, blah, support team, blah, blah, other people are doing the same for charity without the exposure" but a) she still had to do it, get up everyday, overcome injuries & near hypothermia &, b) this effort back to back day after day would be enough for the most hardy of us & c) the whole point is the exposure she can muster as that's what brings the huge amount of donations in.

Good on her. She rides Campag too Looked like a shit route at times though, too many main roads!

Well her efforts impressed me and earned a donation.

It was a real challenge, I don't think anyone can dispute that really. However, she spent 6 months training for it with a team of professional trainers and had a support crew the size if a small army. Most other charity events would differ significantly.
I find the whole celebs doing charity very yawnsome, I know they raise a lot of money but they also raise their own profile in the process so it is not really as altruistic as it appears. L'Oriel are even rerunning the DM ads on commercial tv so the money must be rolling into her coffers as well as the charity.

My mum does loads of charity work and gets the odd cup of tea and a biscuit.

I understand what you say Gkam, but I think you are a little harsh. As for the easily thrown insults (at you), I think they are out of order and show a lack of any attempt to engage in debate/conversation. Where do you go with debate once you've tossed an insult?!

I thought Davina's challenge was made unintentionally difficult and I think she deserves a tip of the hat to the extent that she persevered despite the weather conditions. It was comical in some ways as she was woefully unprepared. But given that she stuck with it shows guts. She was literally dragged from the water of Windemere which surely shows she pushed herself to the limit.

I get what you're saying about the nature of Sports Relief. At its root is a laudable idea: get celebrities to inspire people to get active and raise money for charity. The problem is that for the likes of you and I that would love to put ourselves through such a challenge but don't have the time and money to do so it seems trivialising the endeavours of others because her team made that challenge about as straight-forward as could be possible - the success of it seems guaranteed - but actually in this case it wasn't. She died on her butt a few times. I would move on from that and focus on the responses above - I think she did what she set out to do and inspire a few people.

As to the pictures - I see an unbroken white line, but I think I see dashes next to it so I think that is a legal pass. He also appears to be giving her quite a bit of space. I did think that her bloody support team were probably clogging up busy country roads.

"put herself through hell"

Here are just some examples of people doing amazing things for charity, that you will never hear about, because "famous" people hog all the headlines.

http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/040259856-run-holly-run-girl-6...

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10628051.Denis__80__saddles_up_f...

http://www.24dash.com/news/health/2014-01-21-Fundraiser-takes-on-tough-c...

http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/news/posts/2014/january/80-year-old-take...

I thought it was very fitting, right at the end, she crossed the bridge, on her own, arms aloft in the air "look at me" style. Where did her support team go for that? Where was their recognition? The guy that did the whole thing with her, her medical team, the support crew...etc.

This is only my opinion, I don't think she did anything special. She cycled, swam, walked and ran to equal 500 miles. Well done her, but thats not special and certainly didn't need an hour long program about it.

If you don't like my opinion, fair enough, but to call me a wanker and a tosser just because you disagree is bloody childish. Here is what you can do https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjMvp5iIYAAVRrD.jpg

The difference is that if you or I cycled 500 miles we would be lucky to raise a couple of hundred quid and make 10-15 people aware of a charitable cause.

She had the guts to get off the couch and do it where it would have been very easy to say "no, ask some other celebrity". Kudos for using her fame to make a difference.

mid 40's and Strava, where does that come from. I barely even use Strava.

She cycled a few hundred miles, swam, walked and ran a little bit. It isn't anything special, there are people doing things like this for charity ALL the time.

Everyone just thinks it is special because she is a "celebrity" who gets a shit load of media coverage...

There were outriders all over shuttling traffic, so its no big deal.

As for her efforts, nothing special really.

Yes but surely the Police would have had some sort of temp blocks ahead and behind (sort of like a moving set of temp traffic lights) to minimise traffic issues in either direction? In other words this manoeuvre was probably ok?