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Ice-creams herald warm Borders welcome for Eddie
COMEDIAN Eddie Izzard was pounding the roads and pavements of the the Borders this week as part of his massive marathon challenge in aid of Sport Relief.
The fundraising event, entitled 'Eddie Iz Running', sees the funny man running a marathon a day to cover more than 1,000 miles. Eddie is running from London to the other capitals of the UK – Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh.
After leaving Edinburgh on Sunday, where he was joined briefly by fellow comedian Frank Skinner and stage star Denise Van Outen, he headed for Lauder and the Borders. But while he received a warm welcome from local people along the route, the weather was less kind, buffeting him with wind and rain for much of the day on Monday, during which he clocked up the 30th marathon of his trip.
In Lauder he was met by children from a nearby nursery who joined him for an ice-cream from the comedian's very own 'Eddie's Ices' van, which is following him along the route. Captain Gerald Maitland-Carew also met up with Eddie in Lauder, inviting him for a quick visit to his family home at Thirlestane Castle.
Throughout the rest of the day, Eddie made his way along the A68, reaching the end of that day's particular marathon at Jedburgh. He posted a photograph of the 'Welcome to Jedburgh' sign on his Twitter page and by 3pm on Tuesday, he 'tweeted' that he had left Scotland after crossing the border at the Carter Bar.
With just 12 marathons left, Eddie took a brief break to tell TheSouthern that his sights are fixed firmly on completing his mega-marathon project.
"Yeah, I'm still going strong. Today (Tuesday) had a lot of ups and downs because it was very hilly. But the worst thing this week has been the weather, with a lot of rain just pelting down," he said.
"At the moment, I feel empty of energy after 31 marathons in 37 days. But I'll keep going – there's no way I'm stopping now."
Eddie said he was delighted with the welcome he'd received in Lauder and the Borders. "That was great – it was nice to see the kids out supporting me and share an ice-cream with them. I enjoyed the trip to the castle as well."
The comic told TheSouthern that it was a deliberate ploy not to have too much advance publicity about where he was running.
"I just wanted people to discover me almost by chance. I love meeting people and I do get a chance to meet plenty this way, which is nice.”
As for the Borders scenery, Eddie said he was able to enjoy the views, despite having to keep focused on the physical task in hand, as well as making sure he did not get run over as he made his way along the A68 trunk road.
“I do get to see a lot of the scenery and in the Borders it has been stunning – although I would’ve been able to see a lot more if it hadn’t been for the p*****g rain! As far as the traffic is concerned, I have a lot of hand signals worked out and wear a high-viz vest to make sure drivers see me.”
And Eddie, who starts his nationwide “Stripped” tour next month, is confident he will keep up the running habit even after the marathon fundraiser is over.
“I won’t be running a marathon a day anymore – although this probably wasn’t that much running back in the day when you could find yourself being chased by a sabre-toothed tiger. But I’ll probably still keep running for fun. There’s something primeval about running which appeals to me.”
Sport Relief, as the name suggests, is the sporty version of Comic Relief. Eddie is not the first celebrity to be challenged by the charity, with Cheryl Cole, Gary Barlow and Chris Moyles, among others, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro – at just over 19,000ft it is Africa’s highest peak – last year to raise cash for the cause.
To get his message across that while people around the world may be different, they are also the same in that they are all part of humanity, Eddie is carrying a small flag of the country he is running through. His marathons are being filmed and will be shown on the BBC early next year as part of Sport Relief.
You can donate money to the cause by going to www.comicrelief.com/donate/eddie. His progress can be followed on www.twitter.com or his blog, www.eddieizzard.com.
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Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
