A FITNESS enthusiast and founder of a children’s exercise club is stepping up the pace to rollout free classes to tackle youth obesity.

Rebecca Owen, who runs Coyote Fitness, is looking for ways to fund a community project where she would offer free children’s fitness classes and a free healthy weight fitness programme in the Andover area.

But at the first hurdle the fitness expert felt disappointed by the lack of options presented by the borough council in which she would be eligible to fund the initiative.

Over the past two years the mother-of-two has offered free sessions in the summer holidays for nearly 100 children, but the long-term nature of this new venture means the running costs would be too great a personal expense if no other financial backing was received.

Rebecca said: “I continually have tried to get funding from the local council to offer my fit club free in the community, and constantly get turned down for grants because I am a ‘small business’.

“I am very frustrated and they don’t seem to understand that the project I am offering will be beneficial to the local area and not a profit-making scam.

“The council should re-look at the criteria [of grants] and try to be a bit more open minded.”

A council spokesperson said it has given out more than £50,000 since 2016 in grants to support businesses and is proud of its record of backing enterprise.

They added: “Test Valley Borough Council has well-publicised criteria on eligibility for all of our grants and therefore we are surprised by the comments made by Ms Owen, especially considering we advised her of alternative grants she may want to apply for.

“We would, however, be more than happy to discuss this further with Ms Owen and would encourage her to get in touch with us should she require any assistance.”

Coyote Fitness has built up its brand with cartoon figures representing different areas of fitness to keep exercise fun, and offers paid-for classes for two to three-year-olds, four to six-year-olds and seven to 10-year-olds.

The classes take place in community centres around the town and Rebecca says her passion for fitness is what drives her to offer the same sessions for free.

She added: “We make fitness fun, and want to get kids off the couch and back in to a healthy, active lifestyle, helping to banish the ‘globesity’ epidemic within children.

“One in five children are starting school already obese. There is a problem and I want to help.”

Rebecca is planning to fundraise this year to make the community project possible, and is reaching out to anyone in the community who may want to help or sponsor the plan.

To get in contact email rebecca@coyotefitness.co.uk or find out more at coyotefitness.co.uk.