Pottermore and Sport Relief launch Hogwarts challenge

Sport Relief is encouraging Harry Potter fans to compete for their Hogwarts house in the Nation's Billion Steps a Day Challenge.

This year Sport Relief, run by Comic Relief in association with BBC Sport, is asking the nation to walk one billion steps every day between 17th and 23rd March to raise money for charity.

Sport Relief has teamed up with Pottermore to create a Hogwarts League within the Sport Relief app. A live leaderboard will allow participants to track how many steps their house is doing and will show who is winning - Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin.

Fans will also be able to compete in two Quidditch-themed steps challenges within the app to unlock clips from Quidditch Through the Ages, the digital audiobook, read by Andrew Lincoln, that is being released on 15th March. One challenge is to individually walk the equivalent distance of 100 Quidditch pitches (roughly 9.5 miles), and the other is to collectively walk the distance of the “Annual Broom Race of Sweden”, which takes place in the wizarding world and is a distance of around 300 miles.

The campaign is being supported by Stephen Fry, who said: “I don’t need a Sorting Hat, I’ve downloaded the Sport Relief App, and I’m stepping for Slytherin. Help your house step to victory.”

Proceeds from the sale of Quidditch Through the Ages will go to Comic Relief and Lumos, the charity founded by J K Rowling to work with children and young people.