Gosport dinosaur man's epic Motor Neurones Disease fundraising challenge completed - watch the last mile

Graeme Lloyd and Tommy Russell completed the last mile of their walking challenge on Wednesday, January 31. The friends have become infamous in Gosport where they were seen walking 8 miles a day, throughout January, dressed as 8ft inflatable dinosaurs. The month-long challenge was in aid of Motor Neurone Disease Association, a cause close to Graeme's heart having lost his mother Gaynor to the disease in 2019.

With the challenge over Graeme was able to reflect on their achievements: "It's been quite an emotional journey. We can't get over how many people have turned up in the cold, wet and miserable weather. There is 50 or 60 people here to say thank you so we are really pleased. Its been amazing."

The pairs endeavours have captured the imagination of the local community who have rallied behind them and provided encouragement throughout the process. It is the people that Graeme has met this month that stood out as a highlight to him. He said: "Having members of the public just jump out of their car with their own dinosaur costumes and join us on walks, that was always pretty special. We have made some really good friends from that. We were also invited into all these pubs that have been raising money for us and they just handed over wads of cash to us, which was lovely.

"Another highlight was seeing the local community where we live really embrace what we were doing. We have raised over £10,000 now which is just a staggering amount and it's still coming in today. It's just nice to see people smiling. People find January a really hard month, and we have had lots and lots of messages from people telling us that this January has actually been quite fun. Just being able to put smiles on peoples faces while we are doing something positive has been great."

Graeme is already looking ahead at what to do next: "I'm ready for the next challenge, which is feet up February where I get to do nothing." All joking aside, the success of this month has led to people asking if they are going to do it again. Graeme is unsure if they would be able to replicate the achievement. He said: "I don't think you would be able to top what we have done this year. Never say never but there is nothing planned at the moment."

Graeme's JustGiving page can be found here.