FORTY women raised over £2,000 for breast cancer charities on Saturday (June 3) with a five hour ‘Fit Stepathon’.

The event, organised by Lisa Cherry, who runs LVC Fitness in Broadwell near Coleford said: “The idea was the brainchild of Sarah Roberts, who comes to my classes.

“We decided to raise money for Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity and Jan Thomas collected over £1,000 in cash from us at the end of the day for their breast cancer gamma probes appeal. We’re also raising money online for Breast Cancer Care and donations are still coming in, but we’ve raised £1,000 so far.

“Each one of us dressed up and we took 22,500 steps, which is around 10.7 miles. We all had a ten minute break every hour; it was quite gruelling and it was a very hot day, but around 90 per cent of those who took part completed the full five hours.”

As well as sponsorship for the event, the team sold cakes and held a raffle, including auctioning off a pink FitSteps vest signed by Strictly Come Dancing stars Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe. It was won by Michele Covington-Jones.

“I’ve never known a bunch of people like I’ve known out here,”Lisa added. “They are always willing to get involved and are so lovely, generous and kind.”