To donate any amount online to Comic Relief and to support Jamie’s challenge, click this link, external.

The above link takes you to an external donation page for Comic Relief. Its use is subject to their Terms of Use, external & Privacy Notice, external.

If you would like to donate via text:

To donate £5 text the word FIVE to 70011

To donate £10 text the word TEN to 70011

To donate £20 text the word TWENTY to 70011

(UK ONLY) Texts cost your donation amount +1 std rate message. 100% of your donation will go to Comic Relief. You must be 16+ and have the bill payer’s permission.

For full terms and information on the registered charity, go to bbc.co.uk/jamie.

Image source, BBC / Comic Relief

We can picture our Ultra Marathon Man getting slightly more bronze as the week goes on, because the March sunshine is going to get brighter and warmer as his challenge progresses.

This time back in 2018, Greg James was scaling mountains in March in the 'beast from the east' storms.

So it'll be sweaty, but Jamie will be relieved to be running outside in glorious weather with lots of support from the general public.

Here's a forecast for the next few days:

Image source, BBC / Comic Relief

Jamie's just been surprised by Leanne and Jake from The Traitors - the two winners from this year's edition of the hit BBC show.

They're going to join Jamie on the road for a mile.

Jake says: "Remember what you're doing it for, that's the catalyst. All the money you've raised is the biggest motivation."

Jamie has apologised in advance if he gets emotional on the next leg of this run, it's been that kind of morning!

This morning he could barely talk, let alone put one foot in front of the other.

But after another two hours of running, he sounds like a man on a mission.

"The change in your mindset in these two hours is extraordinary," Greg James tells Jamie. "You should be so proud of overcoming that moment in your life."

Image source, Comic Relief

"Thank you, thank you so much," he says.

"That's amazing. That means everything. That is going to spur me on for the next 1km, 2km, next 20km."

Image source, Comic Relief / BBC

Jamie Laing
Radio 1's Ultra Marathon Man

That was heavy. So tough. I'm really sore. I don't know what else to say.

[Earlier] it was just pure exhaustion. I was being sick, I had a headache, I had nothing in me.

But when you hear messages from everyone and you see people with signs, you think: 'This is what we're doing it for'.

I was beyond the end of my tether. I have not been to a place like that ever.

I have to get through this. I am just running, it's only temporary.

Greg James
BBC Radio 1 Breakfast host

Let's give it a big old push now. I would love to give him a total that is as close to £200k as we can possibly get.

That would be an extraordinary achievement this morning.

That money will do extraordinary things. That money will change people's lives.

This morning, before setting off on day 3, Jamie Laing couldn't hold back the tears after hearing messages from Radio 1 listeners - including one from Mariella, someone who has benefited from the difference Comic Relief and its supported charities make to people's lives.

"I was worried he wouldn’t even set off," admits Matt Edmondson, who has been by Jamie's side all week.

"But playing him those messages was like actual magic, it was crazy what it did."

Watch the moment Jamie showed his emotions below:

Radio 1's Jamie Laing is attempting to run five ultra marathons in five days all to raise money for Comic Relief this Red Nose Day. It's an easy thing to say, but how long actually is an ultra marathon?

Well an ultra marathon is a footrace longer than a traditional marathon - that's a distance longer than 26.2 miles or 42.195 kilometres. Jamie's first two days saw him run around 30 miles. Let's try and put that into perspective for you:

• That's the distance Aitch would have to run from Manchester to Liverpool to perform at this year's Big Weekend.
• For our Made In Chelsea ultra marathon man, Jamie would have to run from Chelsea to the Radio 1 office in central London ten times to complete just one day of this challenge.
• Beloved duck Long Boi, external was around 70cm tall, so the distance Jamie is covering daily is approximately 68,972 Long Bois.

• Running an ultra marathon is like running the height of The Shard 150 times.
• It's equivalent to climbing up and down the UK's tallest mountain, Ben Nevis, three times.

If you're just catching up, Jamie Laing has started the third of five days of ultra marathons.

Tuesday was a slog - the second ultra marathon in the space of two days, from Wyboston to Kettering.

See a selection of standout photos below.

Image source, Comic Relief

Image source, Tristan Fewings/Comic Relief/Getty Images

Image source, Comic Relief

Image source, Tristan Fewings/Comic Relief/Getty Images

Watch the moment Jamie set off from Market Harborough this morning - you can already see how much he's limping.

If you're just catching up, here's a quick recap of Jamie's progress so far.

Monday (17 March) saw him taking on his first ever ultra marathon. In all honesty, he made it look easy. He started the day at London Broadcasting House, jogged through Hyde Park with 50 doppelgangers, and rounded off in Harpenden, all smiles.

Day two was tougher, but he dug deep and found some added resilience. Donations skyrocketed and he was welcomed at the finish line by his mum, Penny.

To donate any amount online to Comic Relief and to support Jamie’s challenge, click this link, external.

The above link takes you to an external donation page for Comic Relief. Its use is subject to their Terms of Use, external & Privacy Notice, external.

If you would like to donate via text:

To donate £5 text the word FIVE to 70011

To donate £10 text the word TEN to 70011

To donate £20 text the word TWENTY to 70011

(UK ONLY) Texts cost your donation amount +1 std rate message. 100% of your donation will go to Comic Relief. You must be 16+ and have the bill payer’s permission.

For full terms and information on the registered charity, go to bbc.co.uk/jamie.

Image source, BBC / Comic Relief

"I got a call at 5.45am this morning, and he’s just broken. He’s in so much pain. Today is gonna be his hardest day. Yesterday you couldn’t imagine the pain he was fighting in his body. But today he was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do it.’"

"Everyone’s support is all that’s getting him through. I don’t know how he would do it without that. He’s going to keep putting one step in front of the other, we just have to hope his body keeps up."

Matt Edmondson
Radio 1 presenter

It’s been a really difficult morning, and no running has taken place yet. It’s hard to put into words the multitude of emotions going on. Radio 1 listeners have done something magical; something no medicine or internal self-talk could ever do. There is something profoundly beautiful about people reaching out to someone they know through the radio, and saying: ‘We’ve got you.’ On a deeper level that means an awful lot to Jamie.

Jamie can barely get the words out, having been played a message from Mariella, an individual he met prior to taking on the challenge.

At start of 2023, Mariella was in the second year of her A Levels but due to extreme stress she had a psychotic episode. She was hospitalised, and due to a lack of patient beds she had to be moved two hours away from home.

After coming out of hospital, she “didn’t feel like myself” and felt like “a shell of the person I used to be.” She got in touch with a charity backed by Comic Relief, which helped get her into physical exercise and talking therapies. It was completely life changing, and that's how much difference a donation makes. "“Donating can be pivotal and can change a young person’s life," she says.

In tears, Jamie says: "The people are so amazing. They’re so strong."

Below, watch Jamie discuss his own experience of anxiety in his twenties - a huge motivator for him taking on this challenge.

Greg is trying to gee up Jamie and help him through an epic third day.

"We will help you through this. And I don’t know if it’s helped at all, but I did get a goat named after you."

It's the first time we've heard Jamie laugh this morning. "Whereabouts in the country?" he replies.

"I wanted to get the goat to the finish line in Loughbourough but there was some BBC red tape. But just so you know: I was willing to get a goat to you, that’s how much we love you."

Image source, Unsplash / BBC

We've just heard from Jamie Laing, who's feeling very dejected as he faces the third of five ultra marathons.

"I’m a little bit broken if I’m honest," he tells Greg James.

"It’s just not what I was expecting. I feel pretty emotional from it all. People are here with signs saying ‘go on Jamie!’ I’m trying to find the energy I usually bring but I just can’t find that this morning."

"There’s no point in pretending," Greg replies. "I’m pleased that you’re saying these things out loud. That’s what we’re talking about this week. This is normal, it’s to be expected. But you are doing something amazing right now this week and remember that."

Jamie sounds renewed. "The emotional support is just mad. I appreciate everything. We’re gonna get this done. We’ll get through it and we’ll do it. It’s for such an amazing cause."

Jamie starts day 3 in the town of Market Harborough.

Another 30 miles awaits as he runs through the Leicestershire countryside - we hope someone's briefed him on the hills...

His end destination is Loughborough, where we expect him to finish in the late afternoon.

Greg James
BBC Radio 1 Breakfast host

I didn’t reply to him saying this, but it’s kind of make or break today. If you do the third one, mentally you can say: ‘I can do two more.’ Let’s help him through the third one.