As the nation celebrates its biggest ever year of sport, we at Sport Relief are encouraging everyone in the entire country to join in the fun from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 March.

As CEO of Comic Relief I have seen Sport Relief grow from the very beginning. It is now a decade old and is a huge fundraising campaign that’s raised more than £124m to help change lives in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.

The bi-annual campaign involves hundreds of thousands of amazing people getting sponsored to do one, three or six miles at Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile events across the country.

This year, we’ve got hundreds of events happening across the UK on 25 March, and everyone can join in – from tiny toddlers to top-notch sports pros. The target is to get one million people taking part in the mile – making it the biggest mass participation run ever.

Last time round, in 2010, nearly half a million people took part in the Sport Relief action. The nation came together to raise a record-breaking £44m – just proving that the power of sport is immeasurable and we hope that this year will be no different.

Paving the way, and inspiring everyone to support Sport Relief, are a whole host of dedicated high-profile celebrities. Just a few months ago, David Walliams amazed the nation by spending eight punishing days swimming the length of the river Thames. In 2010, children’s TV presenter Helen Skelton kayaked 2012 miles down the Amazon river and this year she challenged herself to reach the South Pole by bike, kite and ski – setting a world record as she went. Within the next couple of weeks, comedian John Bishop will attempt to cycle, row and run more than 290 punishing miles from Paris to London in just five days.

I hope these incredible feats inspire and encourage you and your family to do your bit too – but you don’t need to go to these extreme lengths to raise money, you can just sign up to the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile.

www.sportrelief.com/the-mile