Have just watched the first of the three episodes and I've got to hand it to him, it's a mammoth achievement – although a tad mental!

At the start of the programme he stated that he didn't run and wasn't a runner but surely he can't pull that off without a reasonable base fitness level. Is he a biker (looking at his thighs) – or are his muscles as a result of wearing the six-inch heels?

My legs don't look like that, must be because I only wear four inch heels 😆

I do agree with you it is a remarkable achievement but there are many people who do the same or more. They work full-time so can only train in their spare time and do not have a coach, physio, full back up team to carry all water/food, a nutrientist etc etc all of which supplied to eddie at no cost no doubt. Plus it would have been humanly impossible for him to do that without exstensive (by the best in the business no doubt) training/advice first.

A chap in the lakes swam lake coniston(6miles), cycled the fred whiton(114 road miles over all the highest passes) then did the bob graham(74 miles over 42 fell peaks) all non stop but I bet you've never heard of it/him? It's funny that when a celebrity does something it's plastered all over the tv and they are hailed as supper human but others are not!

is it repeated

Burls – where i totally agree with you does that take anything away from Eddie's achievements. I was watching this the other night and the guy is no runner. Taking about 10 hours a day to run the marathons. But he is struggling and working his arse off.

I am seriously impressed. Not like those nuggets that bimbled up Kilimanjaro last year from Radio 1 with about 6 sherpas each.

I am pretty sure it is repeated throughout the week – and also on the BBC i-player

I agree with Jabba, what Eddie did was a world apart from the other sport relief stuff.

Bonkers…

Apparently, he's thinking of going into politics.

My gut feeling at first was this was going to be just another celeb charity love-in, but what Eddie has done seems pretty dammed amazing.
Sounds a bit like sour grapes from Burls to me.

Sour grapes or not, it was a pretty pointless post IMO.

Warms the cockles when you get those kids running/cycling along with him, appreciating what he's doing. I like those bits.

jabbathehut – I am impressed by what he has done, whatever training/support he had he still had to run it. As you said it is a world apart from some things, like the recent london to john-O-groats celebrity so called epic human effort.

I know a little about ultra distance running and can tell you he didn't do that without a lot of pre training over many months. Given the opportunity more people than you think would be able to do what eddie did. The money, back up and the training he had makes a massive difference with something like that and stops the likes of you and me being able to do it.

Burls – I believe he trained for 6 weeks and quite poorly. He 'trained up' as he ran. A remarkable achievement for a man who like dresses and make up.

Apparently he is also likely to have a lifetime of physical problems now as his body will never recover. I think he did something remarkable for someone who is not athletic and the first 'celebrity' to impress me with his dedication to achieving something.

Ian Munro – It's not sour grapes, i've worked with ultra distance runners and seen what they have done. How hard they have worked to achieve what they have done while working full time and how much more they could have done with the back up he got. These weren't super athletes just normal people like eddie but they haven't had tv programs made about them have they? As I said at the beginning of my post what he did was impressive but no more than many many other people. Ultra distance running is common stuff you just don't hear about it thats all.

The point being he has a celebrity status (rightly or wrongly – although I fell rightly as he is a comic genius) so his story is worth broadcasting. Want a 'nobody'? Then look at Mark Beaumont – rode around the world as a nobody and had a programme made about him. He has also just completed north America to south America which is also being broadcast.

How many of the ultrarunners you have worked with have done the equivalent of 43 marathons in 50 days starting with just 5 weeks previous running experience though?

Trust me, it's not the lack of money and backup that is stopping me from doing it.

Background level of fitness, best-the-money-can-buy training and back-up aside, having it televised means it's inspiring others to try something they would never have thought possible. It's inspiring me!

Yuo, I'm watching part-2 right now. I just know for a fact that I could not even contemplate such an epic venture…

How many people who work could take 50 days plus training/recovery time off from work to do that and have a team of people back them up for the 50 event? Is eddie the only person physically capable of that feat? They were my points, i'm not taking anything away from his achievment, which is what I started by saying. Man, I think I should have picked a running forum to pipe up on this one.

Yeah, but the point is he doesnt need to take time off. He doesnt need to put himself through this either. He could have done some kind of half arsed attempt at climbing up a mountain but but 1100 miles in 7 weeks, running is pretty special whoever you are imo and deserves respect, well mine anyway.

He actually did it last year for the last sport releif. He got very little publicity for it last year, and it only appears to be this year that the BBC are making more of what was an amazing acheivement. You do get the impression that he really didnt do it for publicity, unlike the rest of the people who take part in sport releif.

So what if people do ultra distance running every day, they train for it. If you actually listen to what training he did, it was basically nothing.

As for the expert nutrition and support, well yes he did have support, but I bet they were not paid, and I hardly think pints of beer, ice cream and bottles of whisky form the back bone of a sport nutritionist diet!

I never really cared much for his comedy before, but now I have up most respect for the man, much more so than the Killimanjaro bunch, or the ones who cycled from one end of the country to the other.

Yes, he did do it last year (end of July to beginning of September) but for this year's Sport Relief. There was no sport relief last year, it's a biannual event. Reason for choosing last year was that it was argued he would have a better chance of a better a good run of weather in the summer and the hours of day light would be much better.

I can confirm that his training prior to the event was no more than that of a casual jogger. Nice fella too.

It is one of the most honest and moving programs that has been on the telly for a long time. Utterly brilliant stuff.

He seems like a thoroughly decent bloke and no matter what trainig he's had you can't fault his determination, it's hell of an achievement for anyone.

Such a shame some idiot at the BBC decided to hide the programme in the depths of BBC3.

Such a shame some idiot at the BBC decided to hide the programme in the depths of BBC3.

I suspect that it was done to placate the likes of Burls72, and to deflect criticism – a mostly futile endeavour.

As criticising, by far and away the highest quality broadcaster in the world, whilst remaining completely silent with regards to grossly inferior ones, has become highly fashionable.

I also suspect that the decision probably didn't involve just one person, and was made on the basis that the programme would be easily accessible to anyone with a TV and a simple £30 gadget.

I assume that you managed to watch it OK ?

As an aside:

mastiles_fanylion – Member

A remarkable achievement for a man who like dresses and make up.

Interesting comment. Why would that make any difference (As plainly, it hasn't…)?

How many people who work could take 50 days plus training/recovery time off from work to do that

I think the answer to that is I don't know, but I am not sure that Eddie was of their number. IIRC he played some venues on the way round. In episode 2 he definitely pointed at the Liverpool arena from his ferry across the Mersey and said that that was were he was doing his show. If anyone feels the urge to say that that isn't a regular 9 to 5 job etc. etc. can I suggest that before you do you take a moment to reflect upon the meaning of the word nitpicking.

Frankly, don't think it matters. Fair play to the guy.

i thought they did a bad job on Pete Slater of SiS – maybe good TV to show a bolshie photographer providing 'better' advice, but I suspect he wasn't fueled by toffeecrisps and vodka alone.

last year as a non runner, i had 5 weeks to train for a 100k run, with 12,000 ft of ascent. you just train your mind to be good at not stopping. and you refuse to stop no matter what pain you're in. took 18 hours 29 mins, and its nothing like the immense challenge Izzard took on, but when you decide to do something, take away the fail option, big things can be done.

I was all for supporting Eddie, and believing in him, until the program showed him running up a road I know well, on the way from Swansea to Brecon. One of the team described how the road was so steep that the car barely coped. WRONG. This is the main A4067 road to Brecon, used by many cars, bikes, etc, etc. A slog for a couple of miles but not massively steep.

Not a problem, I thought, they're just adding to the drama.

But then, they turned off that road, to the east and stopped – just by the bottom of a trail I use to get off that mountain.

The next shot showed Eddie running across the Crai reservoir dam which is to the west of the A4067.

Now, if he was so knackered, and was actually, properly running from Skewen towards Builth, he had absolutely no need to run across that dam. It goes nowhere and also goes the wrong way.

All done for the TV? Well obviously.

But, if that was contrived for a nice shot, I wonder how much of the rest has been contrived for the same reason.

I'd also add, by my reckoning, taking 10hours to do a marathon means 2.6 miles per hour – slower than average walking pace? But he supposedly ran every inch? I know he stopped regularly, but even at a brisk walk he could have done each day's route with 3.5 hours spare for talking.

Maybe the long distance runners among you will enlighten me?

Mr woppit – I said that to see if anyone would bite 🙂 you did. 😉 no, it matters not that he wears womens clothes. At least he isn't gay. 😉

I said that to see if anyone would bite you did.

Well considering that Woppit merely referred to it as an "interesting comment", it hardly amounts to an impressive reaction…………you must be disappointed – no ?

I dunno ernie and don't particularly care either way, just entertaining myself. Now you have got yourself worked up enough to get involved too.

Now you have got yourself worked up ……..

As you can imagine. Yep, you're really reeling 'em in today mate. And I have to confess that like Woppit, I did vaguely think "what the **** is he on about", when I saw your post – although I couldn't be arsed to comment.

All these people who slag off celebs for doing this wind me up.

Izzard, those that climbed the mountain, the lot that did the cycling and all the others have helped to raise vast sums of money that will save or improve many lives. Surely that is what it is all about?

To say that they had sherpas or a physio or free trainers or whatever misses the point.

I sort of agree Harry, but I think the difference between Eddie Izzard and most of the other celebrity fundraisers is that most of us think we could do most of the challenges (ie walking Kilimanjaro, riding across the UK) but he has done something that most of us just wouldn't have the physical or mental ability to achieve and therefore captures our imaginations more.

At least that is what I think.

as the old french proverb says, 'you can travel a long distance after you're tired'

"All done for the TV? Well obviously."
Yes because the BBC are paying for the production of the programme, so they will want a few nice shots. Is that so bad?

As for SIS its hard to tell if it was bad advice or bad editing.
The toffee crisp was pointless the guy needs 6k+ calories a day carbs would be best, but calories are calories.
But eating a double portion of new spuds at 10pm is not advice its disaster management!

But i don't think the road safety was very good. they should have had a trailing vehicle, make the traffic over take, not squeeze past.
And having the ricshaw (sp) on one side of the carriage way whilst he ran on the other side was dangerous.

As a fellow jogger, I was really taken with the program. Eddie came across as an ok guy and whether he had backup or not and took 10hrs or so to cover the distances, he still had to put one foot in front of the other. Will look forward to next weeks installment.

As was said by others, this was entertaining, moving and inspiring. Well done Mr Izzard.

Why BBC3???