Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox has said the memories of enduring horrific bullying at school as a teen are motivating her to keep pushing as she runs 135 miles for Children in Need
Sara Cox has reflected on the cruel bullying she endured as a child, and revealed how she finally got her own back years later, as she tackles one of her toughest challenges yet for Children in Need.
Sara is currently in the middle of her enormous 135-mile Great Northern Marathon for Children in Need, which involves running across Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
She said thinking about “projects that help with kids who might be feeling bullied or anxious” is what motivates her to push through. The Radio 2 presenter previously spoke about her own difficult school years during an appearance on ITV ’s Lorraine in 2019.
In her memoir, Till the Cows Come Home, she recounts joining a new school at age 12 and being targeted almost immediately, which she said went unnoticed at first by the teachers.
“The worst bit was they held my hands behind my back and shoved an ice cream in my face in the playground,” she told Lorraine Kelly. She added that when she initially reported what was happening, staff “didn’t really believe me because I was the new girl”, but a teacher eventually witnessed the ice cream incident and understood how bad the situation was.
She explained that the intimidation she faced was constant and often subtle. “It was that mild intimidation, being a bit worried about walking along the corridor in case you get tripped up, the whispering in class. It is horrible,” she said.
While speaking to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 last week, she described how two girls “just made my life hell”, with “accidentally on purpose nudging you as they walk past you in the corridor, or a little foot sticking out to trip you up.”
Despite the misery she experienced, Sara revealed she unexpectedly got the last word years later. Once she was a hugely successful Radio 1 presenter, she was contacted by one of the girls who had bullied her, asking for an on-air shoutout.
“That says to me that she didn’t really realise the effect that she was having,” she said. Sara admitted that while on air, she dedicated an entire segment to how awful that period of her life had been.
She laughed: “I wouldn’t do that now. It kind of felt good at the time. It was perhaps a nice closure on it all.” Jeremy Vine asked whether those experiences gave her inner strength, and Sara shared that it has inspired her to take on a monumental fundraising mission for Children in Need to support other children who are going through what she went through.
The challenge has taken a huge physical toll on her, and Sara has admitted: “There’s an adjective short of ‘hell’… I’m so puffy, I’ve never seen my ankles look like this.” She added: “I just look like I’ve been in the wars. We’ve just got to push. Push, push, push.”
Despite the pain, she has now raised over £5 million, which Scott Mills revealed live on air. But behind the scenes, her exhaustion is clear. Speaking on Radio 2, Scott said: “Sara is really struggling…she’s worried about [finishing] and panicking that she can’t. Anxiety is high again.”
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