TV racer Jo Gardiner dies at 61, a year after son Sam's fatal car crash

Jo Gardiner, a Manchester physiotherapist who raced alongside her son Sam on the BBC TV show Race Across the World in 2020, has died at 61 after what her family called "a long and courageous battle with cancer." Sam, 24, died in a car crash on the A34 road near Manchester about a year ago. An inquest — a formal investigation into how someone died — found the car's tyres were too worn down, which contributed to the crash. Gardiner had type 1 diabetes, a condition where the body cannot control blood sugar, and was a Diabetes UK ambassador. Her family set up a JustGiving page directing donations to Diabetes UK. She is survived by her other son, Charlie.