The Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley will be cycling through East Devon tomorrow (Wednesday, February 16) as part of a four-day endurance challenge to raise money for Comic Relief.
The diving champion is rowing, cycling, swimming and running from London to his hometown of Plymouth, passing through places that have been significant in his life.
He set off from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where he won his first Olympic medal in 2012, on Monday, and is due to arrive in Plymouth on Thursday.
On Wednesday, he is cycling 130 miles from Southampton to Bovey Castle on Dartmoor where he married his husband in 2017 – and his route takes him through Dorset and East Devon.
He will be cycling on the A35, passing Bridport at around 1.30pm and continuing past Charmouth towards Axminster. At the Abbeygate junction he will continue along the A358 past Musbury and then join the A3052 to ride to Exeter. Tom will be passing Sidmouth at around 4pm, and will be seen by people out in Newton Poppleford shortly afterwards. He is due to arrive in Exeter at 5.30pm on his way to Dartmoor.
Tom’s ‘Hell of a Homecoming’, as his challenge is called, began on Monday with a six-mile row to the Tower of London, followed by a 60-mile cycle to the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, Team GB Rowing’s training ground. Today (Tuesday) the challenge was to swim 1,000 metres in the lake and then cycle the 63 miles to Southampton.
On Thursday he will run the last 30 miles from Bovey Castle to Plymouth.
Tom said: “I said yes to the opportunity as it’s one hell of a challenge and most importantly, it will be raising money for Comic Relief and for people who really need it.
"I really hope my journey inspires people to donate. The thought that this challenge might actually make a difference to someone’s life, someone who is struggling, is what will help me push through every step.
“I’d love for people to get out on the streets and come and say hello while we’re doing this challenge - I’m going to need all the support that I can get.
"Most importantly, even if you can’t come outside and say hello, it would mean so much to so many people if you could donate what you can to Red Nose Day.”
Tom's progress can be tracked on this map on the Comic Relief website.
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