A host of celebrities gathered at the Science Museum on Tuesday 4 May to launch Sports Relief ’04, the charity set up by Comic Relief and BBC Sport to tackle poverty and disadvantages.

Sir Steve Redgrave, Gary Lineker, Colin Jackson, Rachel Stevens and Tess Daly were among the stars helping kick off a variety of sporting events across the country under the slogan, Go That Extra Mile.

These include the BBC Sport Kwik Cricket Tournament, supported by the England and Wales Cricket Board and BBC Sport, the Angling Sport Relief Megamatch, and the Speedo Sport Relief Challenge.

Sport Relief ’04 will culminate in the main event, the Fitness First Sport Relief Mile on 10 July. Taking place throughout the country, the event will see thousands of people running or walking a mile for the charity. There will even be a Westminster Mile for MPs.

Sport Relief made its debut in 2002, raising £14m for charity, which has been divided equally between UK and oversees projects.

In the UK, Sport Relief-funded projects use sport to unite communities that have been divided by fear, violence and tension.

Projects include the Future Youth Games in Belfast, which brings young people from across the religious and political divide to take part in a week of sports and games and Fitzrovia Youth in Action in Camden, London, which aims to use sport to reduce tension between the local Bangladeshi and white communities.

“It’s a tribute to a marvellous sporting nation that thousands of people all over the country will go that extra mile on Sport Relief Saturday to help disadvantaged people in the UK and all over the world,” said Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

“The government is making sport an ongoing priority and we are supporting splendid initiatives like Sport Relief in an effort to build a happier and healthier sporting nation.”