IT is a disease most people will face in their lives, and now these Hampshire women are putting up a fight.

Despite admitting that they are unfit, Jo Hartley, Siobhan Hand, Cathy Fox and Alison Hodges have been running around their village of Owslebury, near Winchester, but not after children or tearaway dogs, but in preparation for this year’s Race for Life.

In a bid to raise as much money for Cancer Research UK as possible, they have been training together every Monday to make sure they can complete the five kilometre course in a speedy time.

Siobhan Hand, of Main Road, said: “We started doing this because Penni Harrison, who is a former lawyer and has become a personal trainer, set up a running club with women in our village with the aim of getting fit and doing the Race for Life. We have decided to take on this challenge, which is a massive one.

“Every Monday she takes us on a part walk, part jog around the village. We are all quite unfit, and some of us are slightly overweight, and we have a lot of fun. It’s really funny when we try and heave ourselves around Owslebury and we are up and down hills trying to keep ourselves going.”

“It’s a great cause and most people in society are touched by cancer in some way, with friends, family or personal themselves so it is an important thing to do.”

On June 8 hundreds of women will take on the annual challenge in hopes of raising money for Cancer Research UK, with the Winchester event taking place at the Garrison Ground.