After a “brutally hot” day and the sunburn to prove it‚ British comedian Eddie Izzard has completed his second marathon in as many days in South Africa.
Along the way he hung his socks in a tree to dry out‚ and stopped to receive treatment from a physio.
The unsympathetic team accompanying the #MarathonMan tweeted: “Last few miles and Eddie has stopped to worship the cold sponge.”
Izzard is on a quest to run 27 marathons in 27 days in South Africa‚ to honour Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison‚ in aid of raising funds for the Sport Relief charity.
“Our marathon man crosses the Mbashe River and passes through Mvezo‚ Nelson Mandela’s childhood stomping ground‚” the organisation tweeted yesterday‚ for the first marathon. Sport Relief and the BBC are broadcasting scenic footage of Izzard’s run in the rural Eastern Cape‚ including a horseback rider on the road.
With the heat taking its toll‚ a fatigued looking Izzard must now brace himself for his next run.
Izzard tried to do the same challenge in South Africa in 2012‚ but pulled out before being able to achieve it.
The route he is running includes where Madiba grew up‚ on Robben Island where he was jailed and ending at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where Mandela was inaugurated as the country’s first democratically elected president.
He was previously quoted as saying he decided he wanted to run in South Africa as a way of belatedly honouring all those who struggled against apartheid. “I was thinking about what I had done to demonstrate against apartheid and I realised I didn’t eat the fruit from South Africa‚ that’s all I did.”
Izzard has done back-to-back marathons across England and Wales to raise money for Sport Relief.
Video footage can be seen here: https://twitter.com/sportrelief
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