EIGHT people from the Launceston area — referring themselves as ‘What a Bunch of Losers’ — have less than a fortnight remaining of their 90-day fitness challenge to raise money for Sarcoma UK.

Organiser Kayleigh Stringer, who is close friends with Launceston’s Gareth Lancaster, who is fighting the disease, explains how the idea came to fruition.

She said: “Gareth is a really good friend of mine and I wanted to do something to raise some funds. We wanted a challenge we could all do and take us out of our comfort zone, have some fun and raise some awareness and funds at the same time.”

Starting on Monday, September 17, Kayleigh, along with the husband and wife pairings of Matt and Maria Haisman and Kev and Ali Gerry plus Karen Lang, Dave Brawn and David Mantle, have been hard at work.

She said: “I tried to pick eight unlinked people to raise more money. I messaged a handful of people to ask if they’d be interested in taking part and they were the ones who came back to me.

We’re trying to lose pounds, inches, fat or bad habits. For example I’ve given up sugar for the 90 days and we’ve all just been trying to exercise more for the 90 days.”

Kayleigh had high praise for a number of local health and fitness businesses.

She said: “They have offered either one-off free entry to classes or longer term memberships over the 90 days.

“Two people who really deserve a special mention are Matt Luxton with his Blast Fitness camps and Mike Charlwood from Priority1 Fitness. Matt offered three free places for his blast programme while Mike offered two free membership.

“Lots of businesses, including Boogie Bounce Launceston, Activ8 and Launceston Leisure Centre have also offered classes.”

Kayleigh was quick to praise everyone for their efforts so far.

She said: “Their commitment to it has been amazing. For example, Karen, David Mantle and Kev Gerry are getting up at about half-past five three times a week for a 6.15am fitness class.

“Kev has done amazingly and is close to the one stone weight loss at the end of it while Matt also did seven runs in seven countries in seven days while on holiday.”

Although they’re all enjoying a healthier lifestyle, Kayleigh hopes that they continue to keep bringing in the pounds.

She said: “We have weigh-ins every fortnight which has seen Paul Moore from Elements Triathlon lend us a body analysis machine and at the end of the 90 days hopefully we will have lost what we wanted to have lost and raised lots of funds for Sarcoma UK.

“At the moment we’re on about £600 from the JustGiving page and donations but it would be lovely to get to a £1,000.

“We were hoping to raise £500 which we’ve already achieved, and anything about that would be a huge benefit.

“The response has been really positive and I can’t thank the local businesses enough for getting on board and support us.”

To follow the group’s progress ahead of the finish next Sunday (December 16), search ‘What a Bunch of Losers for Sarcoma UK’ on Facebook, or to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/WhatabunchofLosers