Greg James has been forced to end his Sport Relief ‘Gregathlon’ early, after a “frustrating” day of battling against the worsening weather conditions.
For months, Greg has been preparing to climb the Three Peaks and cycle the 500 miles between them but on Thursday (1 March), day four of his challenge, he was forced to call it off.
Speaking live on Radio 1, he said: “It’s been a really frustrating day today, we’ve been in and out of meetings and discussing everything, talking to experts and working out how to get to Fort William and how safe it is to climb Ben Nevis.
“There’s never been a red warning issued in Scotland, ever.
“It’s incredibly dangerous and a few minutes ago we came out of a really long meeting. The upshot of the meeting is that we can’t continue this challenge at the moment.”
Sounding tearful, he added: “That is it for today but also that is it for the challenge for this week. We can’t continue to Ben Nevis. I can’t even… I don’t know really. I don’t know how to talk about it.”
“We tried. I tried so much. We’ve tried so many different ways, there’s a lot of people to think about and it’s a safety thing.
“These challenges are supposed to be tough but as it stands now, we literally can’t leave here, we can’t get there.”
The presenter has vowed to complete the challenge at some point in the future.
Before being left with no choice but to call the Gregathlon off, the presenter battled through three days of gruelling conditions to climb Snowdon and Scafell Pike, while also covering the distance between them.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Alex Burkill, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “Of all the weeks to choose from Greg’s entire broadcasting career, weather wise this is the worst.
“He can expect further heavy snow showers and even windier conditions than he’s experienced so far. With gale force gusts up to 50mph at the top of Scafell Pike, it will feel colder than -20C.”
“This is the worst weather we’ve ever had on a Sport Relief challenge,” Sport Relief trainer Greg Whyte, who was taking on the challenge with Greg James, said. “Air temperature is the coldest we’ve had, but when you add wind-chill on top of that it makes it a really, really tough environment.”
While Greg was clearly upset at ending early, he’s already raised a phenomenal amount for Sport Relief, with donations currently sat at just below £400,000 - and the cash is still rolling in.
Find out more about how to donate here.