BBC Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox may be pushing her body to the limit with the Great Northern Marathon Challenge, but standing firmly behind her every mile are the people she loves most: her husband and her three children.
The 50-year-old broadcaster, adored for her warmth and dry humour, is currently taking on one of the most demanding charity feats of her career — 135 miles across four counties in just five days. From sweeping moorland to brutal ridges and the rolling hills of the North, Sara is running, jogging, and walking her way through the landscape with thousands of listeners rooting for her. And waiting for her at the finish line is her family and a house full of pets she affectionately describes as her “chaotic zoo”.
But behind today’s happy family life lies a past marked by heartbreak and one failed marriage — an experience that once led Sara to declare she would “never again” walk down the aisle.
A marriage that fell apart
Sara married DJ Jon Carter in a secret London ceremony in 2001, and they later welcomed their daughter, Lola Anne. But after four years, the pair split in 2005. The marriage came on the heels of what she has previously described as a very unhappy relationship when she first moved to London — a period she recalls vividly for all the wrong reasons.
Looking back in an interview with The Times, she said she lived in a converted church in Arnos Grove with a partner who “turned out to be horrible” and even stole from her. She explained she felt “emotionally stranded” until she eventually walked away. Only then did the MTV and Big Breakfast years — and the confidence that came with them — truly begin.
Finding real love — after saying “never again”
After her split from Jon Carter, Sara never expected to find love the way she eventually did. Then came advertising executive Ben Cyzer — the man who would change her mind about marriage entirely.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror in their early days, she confessed: “I am very happy and smug and pleased and loved. I have a really good balance in my life… He’s just brilliant — I go all pink and girlie. He’s very thoughtful and caring. He does so much for me but the things that mean the most are the little things.”
Though she once insisted she would never remarry, Sara eventually tied the knot with Ben, with whom she shares two more children — Isaac and Renee. And while Ben prefers to stay out of the spotlight, Sara celebrated their 20-year love story earlier this year with holiday snapshots from Lake Garda, Bergamo, and Lake Como, writing: “20 years since we met at Glastonbury. 12 years married.”
A symbolic journey for Children in Need
For her latest challenge, Sara set off from the rugged beauty of Kielder Forest on 10 November and will conclude in Pudsey, Leeds, on Friday the 14th — literally carrying Pudsey Bear from the border to the heart of Yorkshire. It’s a journey powered not just by endurance, but by the love of the family who will be waiting at the finish line.
