A CAMPAIGN group that wants new sports facilities to promote an Olympic legacy in Winchester has announced four fundraisers.

Fit for the Future has spent more than two years developing a proposal for a new sports centre at Bar End, next to the existing athletics track.

The group launched its 2012 Hours campaign on July 27 at midnight, on the second anniversary of the London 2012 Olympic ceremony.

It finishes at 8pm on October 19, 83 days and 20 hours later.

Emma Back, campaign coordinator, said: “Winchester loves sport, and we’re determined to secure its future here.

“The facilities we build now will serve this area for the next 50 years or more, so we’ve got to get it right.”

The first fundraiser is a two-hour ‘Danceathon’ at Kings’ School, in Romsey Road, on Sunday, September 28, followed by a golf day at South Winchester Golf Club on October 3.

On Sunday, October 12, the group is hosting a static bike challenge in St Maurice’s Covert, in Winchester High Street, where sponsored riders will complete 2012 seconds on a bike to contribute to ‘community mileage’.

The events and campaign culminate with a community ball at Norton Park hotel on Sunday, October 19, including a speech from GB marathon runner Louise Damen and acrobatics by Treasure gymnasts.

The new centre would include a 50-metre pool, a large sports hall, a gymnastics and trampolining facility, climbing wall, indoor running strips and jump area for athletics, and spectator seating for the existing track, and would mean abandoning River Park.

The Gordon Road centre has been at the forefront of controversial expansion plans, which has opinions divided.

Winchester-born pop-star Frank Turner attended the ‘Save the Rec’ event in May, which highlighted the possible loss of open space next to the existing sports centre.