Pudsey Bear and Olympic swim coach David McNulty help BBC presenters get ready for Children in Need Thousand Mile Challenge

18 October 2024

Pudsey Bear was a very special guest at the Team Bath Sports Training Village as he helped legendary Olympic swimming coach David McNulty deliver a motivational training session for four BBC radio breakfast show presenters undertaking this year’s mammoth Thousand Mile Challenge for Children in Need.

Joe Sims (BBC Radio Bristol), Nicky Price (BBC Radio Gloucestershire), Ben Prater (BBC Radio Wiltshire) and Charlie Taylor (BBC Radio Somerset) were put through their paces in the London 2012 Legacy Pool by McNulty, Head Coach of the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre that has secured 13 medals – seven of them gold – for Team GB at the past four Olympic Games.

The presenters will swim 24 miles apiece during the fundraising challenge, taking place between 4th and 8th November, adding up to 1,000 miles across all the BBC local radio stations.

“Children in Need is such a great cause and I’m delighted they have chosen swimming for their fundraising challenge this year,” said McNulty. “The presenters were of a way better standard than I thought they’d be but I’ve given them some tips which will hopefully help them along the way. I’m confident they will be able to do the challenge and wish them well.”

 

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The Thousand Mile Challenge is also being supported by five-time Olympian and former World Champion Mark Foster who, like McNulty, is an inductee into the University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport.

For more information and to make a donation online, visit bbc.co.uk/swim.

Pictured top, from left: David McNulty, Pudsey Bear, Joe Sims, Ben Prater, Nicky Price and Charlie Taylor at the London 2012 Legacy Pool.

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