Red Rum joins Jessica Ennis-Hill and Andy Murray as top British sporting heroes
Three-times Grand National winner Red Rum has finished in the top 10 of a poll of Britain’s sporting heroes.
The vote, run by Sport Relief, was on the sporting hero Brits are most proud of.
Hepthathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill came out on top with 27% of the vote. But Red Rum made it into the top 10 with 13%.
Tennis star Andy Murray was second with 26%, rower Sir Steve Redgrave took third with 22%.
The popular gelding won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977. He also came second in the famous Aintree race in 1975 and 1976.
He was trained by Ginger McCain and the horse became a national celebrity.
The research showed that two thirds of Brits that voted (66%) feel proud to be British when it comes to the nation’s sporting accolades.
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Aside from sport, one in three Brits (37%) said The Queen is the icon of which they are most proud, closely followed by Winston Churchill (31%) and Sir David Attenborough (30%).
“From sporting champions to British icons, we, as a nation, have a host of reasons to feel proud,” said Michele Settle, director of UK campaigns and brands at Comic Relief.
“We believe there’ll be an increase in Brits feeling the emotion this spring by taking part in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games and making a massive difference to people living incredibly tough lives.”
The results were released today (Friday 29 January) in the run up to the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games. This aims to inspire people to sign up to “walk, run swim or cycle themselves proud”, at the events across the weekend of 18-20 March.
Half of all the money raised by the public for Sport Relief is used to make a difference, right here at home in the UK. The other half is used to transform lives across the world’s poorest communities.
Visit: www.sportrelief.com to sign up to your nearest event.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.