Mather’s fresh challenge will be centrepiece of 2012 Sport Relief

FORMER Scotland back row forward Cammy Mather has come up with a race for sportsmen and women that will become the centrepiece of the 2012 Sport Relief fundraiser.

He has persuaded Thom Evans, the former Scotland winger, and a host of UK celebrities and sports stars to join the unique challenge which will feature more than 4,000 members of the public and be screened by the BBC.

In short, the ‘First Nations Home’ challenge will pit teams representing Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland against each other in a 1,260-mile run, sail and cycle around the UK over seven days. It will culminate in a six-mile finish for each team involving 1,000 volunteers on 25 March, 2012, the Scottish leg being run from Edinburgh Castle into and around Holyrood Park.

Mather launched the event in London yesterday and told The Scotsman: “It was a simple idea that has just taken off with Comic Relief/Sport Relief, the BBC and sportsmen and women all over the place loving the idea.

“It came about from old rugby players like me chatting at a rugby dinner about 18 months ago. We were bemoaning the transition into non-sporting life and how we missed the competitive life. Some guys were doing triathlons to keep fit but no matter what you did you couldn’t make up for the void of competitive sport. So we wondered how you might fill this void.

“The other aspect of the discussion which prompted this was the recognition that while you like to think you’re making a difference to people playing sport, the truth is that you play sport at professional and international level for yourself, and you do so in a privileged position.

“I liked to think that when I played I might encourage youngsters to take up rugby, but it’s only really when you finish playing that you can really make a difference. So pulling that together I came up with this race around the UK that creates a real competitive event, not just a run from A to B, and can also hopefully raise a lot of money for Sport Relief.”

Mather has won support from an array of sporting talent, including Andy Murray, Chris Cusiter, Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, Stuart Broad and Jessica Ennis, who all appear on the launch video.

Each national team will consist of ten members including international rugby players, Olympic stars and celebrities with specialist help. Dame Ellen MacArthur will be at the helm of Team England’s 72ft challenger yacht from Northern Ireland to Scotland, while Team Scotland will benefit from the expertise of World Champion cycling time trialist Graeme “The Flying Scotsman” Obree who will line up against his friend and rival, Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman.

The teams will start in each of their capital cities, the Scots leaving from Edinburgh Castle, the English from Trafalgar Square, the Welsh from Cardiff Castle and the Irish from St Stephens Green. They will set off on the same route clockwise around the UK and Ireland back to their capitals in the battle to be the “First Nation Home”.

Participants include top TV celebrities Gethin Jones, gardener Diarmuid Gavin, presenters Andrea MacLean and Craig Doyle, actress and model Gemma Atkinson, Olympians Sonia O’Sullivan and Iwan Thomas and rugby caps Josh Lewsey and Gareth Thomas.

The challenge is sponsored by the logistics company DHL and Adidas, who will kit out the celebrity teams and the 4,000 public participants in their national colours, with Heineken and Halfords also sponsoring the challenge. The British Army has also agreed to support the event with soldiers helping throughout the route. Mather added: “One of the first questions you get asked as an internationalist is: ‘What is it like to represent your country?’, so a big part of this is the opportunity for 1,000 people in each country to be part of it.

“Half of the English places have gone already and I’m confident we’ll get lots of Scots signing up to do the six miles finish. All their times will be used, and averaged, in the process of working out the fastest team to complete the route.

“And they will be out there competing, there will be a winner and three losers, and that’s what competitive sport is about. But of course the big thing is that we raise lots of money for Sport Relief, adding to the £108m it has raised so far, and the work it does for disadvantaged people across the UK and abroad.”