AMONGST the joggers and ramblers on Winchester's St Catherine's Hill, two training partners stand out from the crowd.

James Dajlid and Steve Lynch, from Colden Common, are both preparing for tough assignments - albeit of a very different nature.

As Winchester's only professional boxer, Steve, 31, is getting ready for his third fight in the paid ranks, while James, a fireman, is gearing up for the world firefighter games.

“It was Steve's idea. He's up there training with the other boys from his gym, but I didn't want to get in their way, so started going on my own. Now we go together - hopefully a couple of times a week,” James said.

Sprinting up the hill with his fire-fighter's apparatus on - all 18kgs of it - James draws some puzzled looks.

He said: “Some guy came up to me the other day and said 'I do have to ask you what you're doing'. I think he thought he thought the apparatus was a rocket or something!

“When I told him I was preparing for the fire-fighter games, he said 'that's good enough for me!'”

James and Steve, who have been friends since childhood, each have their own theories on who has it the hardest.

“No I've not been tempted to train with the apparatus on - it's 18 kilos!” Steve said.

But James feels Steve, a junior-welterweight, is setting the pace.

“You've got to understand Steve is as light as feather, he sets the pace. But I'm losing a lot of weight now as well,” he said.

James said he is getting plenty of support from his watch mates at Heathrow Airport, but his wife of eight years, Emma, will take some convincing.

He said: “My missus thinks I'm 'crazy', 'mad'. She has a few other names like that for me!”

The World Firefighter Games will be held in Belfast from August 1, and James is entering the Ultimate Firefighter.

The gruelling event will see him clad in protective equipment as he lugs ropes, ladders and hoses across various obstacles.

Steve fights a yet-to-be-named opponent in Portsmouth at the Pyramid Centre on June 15.