Zoe Ball Moved To Tears As She Discovers Sport Relief Cycle Total

She cycled 350 miles for the charity in memory of her late boyfriend.

Zoe Ball was moved to tears as she discovered her Sport Relief cycle had raised over £1 million for the charity.

The presenter cycled 350 miles from Marlow to Brighton in memory of her boyfriend Billy Yates, who took his own life last year after struggling with depression.

Zoe Ball raised over £1 million for Sport Relief
Zoe Ball raised over £1 million for Sport Relief
BBC

During Friday (23 March) night’s Sport Relief telethon, Zoe appeared in the studio to find out the amount of money her challenge had personally raised for this year’s appeal.

She was astounded when Freddie Flintoff revealed the public had donated a whopping £1,198,012, becoming visibly emotional.

Greg James, who completed a similar challenge climbing the UK’s three biggest mountains and cycling the distance between, also raised £1,090,522.

The figures represented a large chunk of the final total Sport Relief raised on the night, which stood at £38,195,278.

Zoe’s challenge was the subject of a documentary earlier this week, in which she moved viewers with her account of the last time she saw her late boyfriend.

“He called me and as I turned round, his little face was there and at that moment, my heart exploded with all this love,” she said. “I thought to myself, whatever it is that we have to do, I love him so much, we will get through this somehow.

“It was just that moment, that feeling of oh my god, I love him so much, we’ll find some help, it will be OK. And I wish I’d told him that.

“He hopped on his bike and he cycled off, and he turned around and blew me a kiss goodbye, and that was the last time I saw him.”

Speaking through tears, she added: “I feel really grateful that I got my goodbye in a way, and I think that was my goodbye you know.”

Zoe began dating Billy last year following her split from husband Norman Cook, aka DJ Fatboy Slim, and vowed to do something in his memory after his suicide.

You can still donate to Sport Relief here.

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