Radio 1 DJ Arielle Free takes on a cycling challenge like no other for Red Nose Day!

BBC Radio 1’s Early Breakfast host, Arielle Free is preparing for the ultimate DJ set and challenge of a lifetime – the ‘Tour de Dance’ with Arielle Free. Arielle will attempt to cycle for 50 hours, across 5 cities in 5 days, all whilst DJing live, to raise life-changing funds for Comic Relief and support people across the UK and around the world.

From Sunday 5 March, Arielle will be taking to the streets of York, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool, tackling a different city each day. Arielle will undertake this challenge on a 10-person bike, specially adapted to be equipped with DJ decks and a giant Red Nose.

Arielle will not be able to complete the challenge solo, and will be joined by Radio 1 listeners and some famous faces in each of the five cities, who will all need to pedal together to keep the music pumping and help to get Arielle over the finish line.

On Sunday 5 March, Arielle will join Greg James for a one-off Breakfast special ‘Tour de Dance for Red Nose Day’ show to talk though the challenge and the tyre-some task she is about to embark upon. This is set to be the ultimate test of stamina, strength and endurance.
Arielle Free said: “I’m SO nervous about the challenge, it’s something I’d never considered before, and that’s just the cycling shorts! It’s going to be a huge mental and physical challenge peddling whilst mixing live, across 5 cities in one week.

I have definitely had some funny looks in the gym whilst practising DJing on the bikes!

Looking forward to raving and pedalling across the nation, if you see us cycling past, please show some support by dancing along! And please donate if you can!”

Greg James said: “These challenges only work when the whole station and all the listeners get behind them so I’ll be doing my very best to be the ringmaster back at base rallying everyone together to get Arielle over the finish line. She’s incredibly tough but this will be her biggest challenge yet…”

Samir Patel, CEO of Comic Relief said: “We are incredibly excited to have the support of Arielle for this extraordinary challenge that only our friends at Radio 1 could imagine. The ‘Tour de Dance’ with Arielle Free is a unique and exciting way to raise funds and we hope that Radio 1 listeners and people across the country get behind Arielle and help her through this huge challenge of a lifetime. Good luck Arielle!”

The challenge will begin on Sunday 5 March live on Radio 1 and you can catch up with Arielle each day of the challenge on Vick Hope and Jordan North’s show, which will be renamed during the challenge to ‘Tour de Dance for Red Nose Day’ and broadcast live from the city Arielle has cycled through.

Don’t miss out on any of the fun – all the action will feature on Radio 1, the BBC Sounds app and across social media as Arielle gets set to take on the longest rave of her life to raise life changing money for Comic Relief. The money raised will help support people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, and food poverty here in the UK and around the world.

To find out more, cycle over to: http://www.comicrelief.com/arielle