Olly Murs completed day two of his 400km endurance challenge for Soccer Aid's 20th anniversary after grinding through 100km of the Peak District in Derbyshire on Tuesday. The five-day Into The Unknown test is taking him by running, cycling and rowing between Manchester and London.

The 41-year-old from Essex pedalled through the Hope Valley, climbed from Wye Dale over to the Tissington Trail, walked off-road into Ashbourne and finished the day rowing along the Trent and Mersey Canal. By the end of the second day, the challenge had raised more than £152,000.

Murs said there were moments when he wanted to stop and head back to the hotel, but said that was exactly the point of the effort. He said he was doing it for Unicef and that the money was already helping to do remarkable things for children in difficult places and situations.

The route was launched before Tuesday as part of Soccer Aid's 20th anniversary push, with the funds going to children's charity Unicef. For Murs, who rose to fame on The X Factor before later presenting the show, scoring hits with Troublemaker, Dance With Me Tonight and Up, and going on to appear as a judge on The Voice and as a player at Soccer Aid, the challenge has become a very public test of endurance as much as charity.

The strain is the point. Murs said he was thinking of families and children with every stroke in the canal, along with his own wife and children, and said that even if he was exhausted and the day felt relentless, he would still get up the next morning and do it again. After two days, the answer to the challenge is already clear: he is going on, and the fundraising is going with him.