Scott, Tina, and Ellie held things together live from the “Salford Riviera” as the final day of Sara Cox’s Great Northern Marathon Challenge unfolded.
Sara Cox’s Final Push for Pudsey 💛
What a morning. What a show. What a week. Scott, Tina, and Ellie held things together live from the “Salford Riviera” as the final day of Sara Cox’s Great Northern Marathon Challenge unfolded. This might genuinely be one of the most emotional Scott Mills shows Radio 2 has ever aired. The entire breakfast show pulsed in real time with updates, weather chaos, tears, determination, and a whole nation cheering Sara on.
👟 The Final Day Begins
From the first minutes of the show, it was clear how huge the day was going to be. The storm over the north was relentless. Tina summed it up perfectly:
“It is wet, it is cold, and it is continuously raining.”
The team had moved the whole broadcast to Manchester to get closer to Sara. Scott teased the team for packing like they were heading to the Arctic, including long johns and thermals, only to realise they might actually come in handy.
Listeners lined her route in the darkness and wind. You could hear the gusts battering the microphones as locals waited for her to pass. Kids from Ripley School shouted “Hi Scott!” proudly in the rain, buzzing to set Sara off on her final leg.
💛 Sara’s Pain, Determination, and Brutal Honesty
This wasn’t the upbeat, laughing Sara we usually hear. This was raw, emotional, and fighting through serious physical pain. She told Scott:
“I’ve not really got much left in the tank… I feel sick… my toes are like little fat cocktail sausages.”
She said she’d been “half crying most of the time” and trying not to scare any children waiting in the rain to see her.
Scott and Ellie were clearly struggling to hold it together too. At one point Scott said softly:
“Your face, Sara, I can feel it all… it’s horrible.”
Even through it all, Sara kept grounding herself in why she was there:
“My pain is temporary… these children live with chronic pain every day.”
And after hearing the story of Maddie from Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, Sara said:
“I’m going to run for Maddie today.”
📣 The Listeners, the Tears, the Voice Notes
The support was overwhelming. Voice notes poured in from across the UK — people crying on trains, kids donating pocket money, and entire schools out in the rain holding banners. One listener said:
“I’ve never been so invested in someone I don’t know.”
Jeremy Vine jumping out of bushes, tractors waiting at the roadside, school choirs, kids in Pudsey hats, and Sara waving through tears… it all came through the speakers like the whole country was out there with her.
👑 The Prince William Moment
In one of the most spine-tingling moments of the morning, Scott revealed a surprise message:
Prince William himself sent Sara a personal good-luck message, talking about Pudsey, crumpets, and how proud the nation is of her.
Sara was gone. Tears. Real tears.
“I love him.”
Even Mel Giedroyc, who joined Scott live, nearly lost it.
💥 The Five Million Turnaround
Earlier in the morning, the total was around £4.1 million. Then Scott casually said:
“Five million sounds neater.”
Cue the madness.
Donations flooded in so fast the team could barely keep up. Then, shortly after playing the song Sara’s friend sent her, Scott said he had something urgent.
He read the new total live:
£5,006,515.
Sara sobbed:
“Five million, guys… thank you… thank you so much.”
Scott reassured her kids on air that their mum was safe and being looked after.
🏉 Chappers Steps Up – The Salford Sports Desk (AKA a Chair Next to Scott)
One of the biggest boosts of the morning came from Mark “Chappers” Chapman, drafted in to deliver the sport but ending up giving the nation exactly what it needed: honest affection, chaotic banter, and the kind of dry humour only he can get away with.
Scott introduced him as if he were broadcasting from a grand “Radio 2 Sports Desk”, but in reality, he was sitting about a foot from Scott with a script in a font size that became an entire comedy subplot.
“Is that in a big enough font for you?” Scott teased.
Chappers, scandalised, shot back that it “didn’t used to be like that back in the day.”
What followed was classic Chappers-and-Scott energy: frosted tips flashbacks, Coronation Street memories from his days working in the gift shop, and Scott still calling him his “little old orange friend.”
But beneath all the teasing was something much more powerful. When the conversation shifted to Sara, Chappers’ tone changed instantly. Every joke dropped away.
“You are a remarkable individual… an inspiration… we are all so, so proud of you.”
He spoke about how Sara has handled every night, every gathering, every child waiting in the rain with absolute gentleness, no matter how broken she felt inside. He couldn’t hide how hard it was to hear her voice cracking with exhaustion.
“She takes it all in her stride.”
By the time he finished his “sports update”, he wasn’t doing sports at all anymore. He was giving Sara exactly the emotional shove she needed: proud big-brother energy, delivered with total heart and zero fluff.
“One foot in front of the other, Sara.”
🚶 The Road to Pudsey
Locals phoned in from every village and lay-by. One woman said she’d stand alone in the middle of nowhere just to cheer Sara on. Another told Scott:
“I’ll cry when she passes, I know I will.”
Even tractors showed up.
Of course they did. Yorkshire.
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