Gosport's dinosaur man walks 8 miles a day in memory of his Mum while raising money for Motor Neurone Disease

Graeme Lloyd lost his mother Gaynor in 2019 to MND and has looked to raise money and awareness for the disease ever since. His latest fundraising challenge, alongside his friend Tommy Russell, is to walk 15,000 steps a day in January, which is the equivalent of 250 miles (8 miles a day). To make the achievement even more remarkable, they are dressed as 8ft inflatable dinosaurs.

The epic challenge being undertaken by Graham is for a very personal cause: "I lost my mother to Motor Neurones back in 2019 and then in December 2023 my Auntie was also diagnosed with it as well. So we wanted to raise money to go to the association to see if they could help find a cure or have a breakthrough in treatments but also to try and make people smile while we were doing it at the same time."

He added: "In 2019 I ran the Manchester marathon in the dinosaur costume and it got a lot of press attention. Motor Neurone Disease Association run this 15,000 step challenge every January and lots of people take part, its a big challenge but I wanted to do something that would stand out and catch peoples attention. The costumes are 8ft, they blow in the wind and they look quite funny so we thought we would wear them and it has grown out of all proportion since then."

Having initially aimed to raise £500, he has been taken aback by the public's response. The total at the time of writing is just short of £3,700. Graeme said: "I am blown away if I'm being honest. We have had an unbelievable response its far bigger than I ever anticipated. The donations seem to be flooding in, we went to Stokes Bay and collected £150 cash just while walking around. I don't think people realise how far reaching Motor Neurones Disease affects people. I have literally had hundreds of messages from people saying they have been affected by it in their family, its far bigger than people realise. There has been a lot of publicity with Rob Burrow, and Kevin Sinfield running his marathons but I think there is a lot more people being touched by it locally that are now coming to light."

The two friends, who are sometimes joined by other friends and supporters, can be found every evening walking around the Gosport area and have started a game to see how many car beeps they can get along the way. If you happen to see some 8ft inflatable dinosaurs when driving in the area, be sure to give them a beep. Their JustGiving fundraising page can be found here.