Bolton BBC star Vernon Kay is on the final leg of his Ultra Ultramarathon Challenge across the UK in aid of Children in Need. On Thursday, he entered Greater Manchester for the first time after an epic journey through the Peak District and on Friday he aims to complete his charity mission in his hometown of Bolton.

BBC Radio 2 star Vernon has been tackling a 115 mile challenge including the hills and dales of Derbyshire. But he has been buoyed by the huge amount of people who have been lining the streets to cheer him on every step of the way.

The challenge will culminate in his hometown of Bolton on Friday morning. He has already raised almost £3million for Children in Need, and people can continue to donate until Friday.

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For those keen to continue to cheer Vernon along the way, on Friday, he left Old Trafford just before 7am to take the final leg of his journey to his home town of Bolton. He will weave through Salford before heading north west through Linnyshaw, Little Hulton and the edges of Bolton via Middlebrook.

on Thursday he ran from the Hope Valley over Kinder Scout, through Hayfield and down through Mellor and Marple Bridge to Stockport. He had a hero's welcome at Emirates Old Trafford on Thursday night.

Wednesday's route saw him set off from Derby, head through Duffield and Belper, then Matlock and Rowsely before a huge crowd welcomed him into Bakewell. He then continued into the night on to Hathersage with the BBC's Jeremy Vine joining him for some encouragement.

BBC Radio 2 listeners will have also heard the emotional moment that Vernon's mum Gladys gave him a call and told him just how proud she and all the family are of him - leaving listeners and BBC host Jo Whiley in tears.

Vernon started his Day 2 of the challenge in Derby

Thursday's route started from Hope heading through Castleton and then on to a gruelling hike up Kinder Scout and Edale in the High Peak. He then headed down through Hayfield, and into Greater Manchester after lunchtime through Mellor, then Marple and then into Stockport.

From there he continued to run on to Old Trafford to the Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground, which will be a great spot for supporters to cheer him on along his route. His route will end in Manchester city centre where he will spend the night before the final leg of the run on Friday.

Then on Friday, Zoe Ball has announced that she will be bringing her BBC Radio 2 show to Bolton in order to cheer on Vernon as he hopefully completes the challenge at Bolton Wanderers' stadium. Members of the public were able to apply for free tickets for this event to watch him cross the finish line.

He is expected to complete the challenge at around 9.30am on Friday.

Vernon had a late night run in the Peak District on the challenge

Vernon's challenge is a continuation of Radio 2's fundraisers for BBC Children In Need, which includes The Great Scott TreadMills Challenge from the previous year, in which Scott raised almost £1.3 million by walking, jogging, and running on a treadmill for 24 hours.

All the money raised from the fundraiser will go towards towards supporting children and young people across the UK facing a range of issues.