Gareth Thomas turns women from 'curry and chips to fighting fit'

A super-fit ex-rugby international has faced one of his toughest challenges yet - getting a group of out-of-shape women ready for a half marathon.

Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas spent 16 weeks with 16 women from Deri, Caerphilly, who had not built up a sweat since their schooldays.

He was tasked with getting them ready for October's Cardiff Half Marathon.

Whether he was successful or not is the subject of a BBC Wales series Run For Your Life which starts Friday.

After arriving in the former mining village, Thomas found women who drank and ate takeaways regularly, some who smoked 20 cigarettes a day and ate no fruit or vegetables.

His first stop was the Mayo household, where he met mother Helen, who wants to get fit as a way of tackling her high blood pressure.

Daughter Chloe, 17, also wants to lose weight before she starts university.

Dad Graham pointed to the scale of Thomas' challenge, describing his wife's "sizeable weekend takeaway habit" which includes "a kebab Friday night, Indian Saturday night and maybe a Chinese on a Sunday".

When Thomas first met the rest of the women at the local rugby club, his first observation was: "These ladies can drink pints quicker than the men."

But undeterred, the former back starts training the women, aged between 17 and 60 - a mixture of mothers, daughters and grandmothers.

While the social lives for many of the group revolved around Deri's three pubs, regular parties and barbecues, Thomas wakes up at 05:00 BST every morning to go for a six mile (10km) run.

"Twenty four hours is a long time, you can do a lot in it. Instead of watching Eastenders and eating a packet of Jaffa Cakes, I try to train at least seven times a week," he said.

The women's husbands and partners were not positive about his chances, describing their other halves as "couch potatoes", with some saying many would "struggle to cross the start line".

But Thomas believes bad habits are not the only things holding the women back from being more healthy - describing the lifestyle of people in Deri as "hereditary".

"It's how people live their lives in Welsh villages. I want to find a way of changing it," he said.

With the help of team of fitness and health experts Thomas set upon his task of changing the women from "curry and chips to fighting fit".

Will he succeed? Watch the group's progress as they limber up to start the race on 4 October.

Run For Your Life is on Friday, BBC One Wales at 19:30 BST.