IRON team Vanessa and Eric Brooks will line up for the famous Ironman event in Bolton on Sunday a shadow of their former unfit selves.

Just a couple of years ago, Vanessa weighed 15 stones 7lb and husband Eric weighed in at 22 stones. But the couple changed their diet — and their lifestyles — to shed more than 16 stones between them and take part in one of sport’s toughest events.

Today, Vanessa is eight stones 2lb and Eric is 13 stones 4lb and both now work in the fitness industry.

The turning point for the Farnworth couple came when Eric, aged 39, was out in the garden one day playing with young daughter Molly.

He explained: “I’d been running around but I found I was completely out of breath in just a few minutes and had to stop. It made me realise that if I didn’t lose weight — and soon — I just wouldn’t be around for my daughter growing up. It was a shock and it finally forced me to do something about my weight.”

For Eric, the pounds had just crept on over the years. He had avoided sporting activities as a pupil at Queen Street Primary School in Farnworth and then at the former George Tomlinson School at Kearsley. By the time he really appreciated just how big his 5’10” frame had become, he was in XXL T-shirts, size 48-inch waist jeans and very overweight.

Vanessa’s story was very similar. She had loved running while at Cherry Tree Primary School and Harper Green School, both in Farnworth, but found that at a petite 5’2” the weight she put on showed every pound.

When Eric vowed to lose weight he set himself the goal of taking part in the Ironman UK contest last year, and Vanessa offered to both help him slim and to join him in losing the pounds.

She cooked vegetarian meals for the whole family, spending one day a month shopping, preparing and cooking the right portion sizes before freezing them for the three of them to enjoy in the following month.

Eric embarked on a 20-week Ironman training programme of swimming, cycling and running and the weight dropped off.

By last year’s Ironman he weighed 15 stones and promised to finish the event before the 17-hours’ cut-off time. In the event, he just managed it — at 16 hours and 23 minutes — and at the finishing line told his wife “Never again!”

By last November, however, he had not only changed his mind but had also been joined in his training by Vanessa, determined to keep losing weight. By then, both Eric and Vanessa were employed in the fitness industry, Eric as a swimming instructor at Total Fitness in Walkden and former Asda worker Vanessa had turned her gym-going hobby into a career and re-trained as a fitness instructor, working at Virgin Active gym at The Valley.

Even young Molly, now aged 10, got the fitness bug and she has been joining her mum and dad cycling and running. She is now taking part in Saturday’s Ironkids’ event.

For Eric and Vanessa, who are both being sponsored to raise funds for the Scope charity supporting disabled people, Ironman represents an important milestone in their weight-loss journey. For Eric it’s a chance to “shave an hour and a half off my time last year” and for Vanessa it will be a challenge to simply finish her first Ironman.

“We are both looking forward to it,” admitted Eric. “We never thought we’d ever be able to do something like this so it feels really great to be even taking part.”