TWO Wee County mums of kickboxing sons are set to face off in the ring this week to raise travel funds for an international competition.

Arlene Allison and Janice Kremer decided to pull the gloves on for this Saturday’s, February 29, IKMS Martial Arts Fight Night, which will be held at the Dumyat Centre in Menstrie.

Their sons Luca Allison and Neo Kremer, both 16, are part of a local team of five who have the chance to fly out to Thailand this March and compete in various kickboxing disciplines for Scotland.

The pair will be joined by Cailean Miller, 11-year-old Menstrie Primary pupil, nine-year-old Keeva Duncan from Bannockburn Primary and Izaak Balfour, 16 and studying at Wallace High, when the team travels for the Fifth International Thai Martial Arts Games and Festival.

However, in order to get there they will need to secure funds and the fight night this weekend, conceived by the parent-run IKMS sport and social club, will support that effort with junior and amateur kickboxing as well as white collar boxing on the bill.

Janice said: “It’s slightly mad at my age, I just turned 50, but it’s really good fun, we’ve got a great team, great coaches.”

And added: “It’s absolutely exhausting, but it’s really good fun just to do something completely different, completely out of my comfort zone.”

There are some nerves of course and Janice trains at the same times as opponent Arlene, musing that unfortunately, they actually get along rather well.

Arlene said: “I didn’t actually know Janice until we started training and it’s awful because I actually quite like her!”

However, it is all for a good cause and with neither mum having done any martial arts before, it was also quite a challenge and a unique way of raising funds.

Arlene admitted that “it’s been an uphill struggle” during “gruelling” training sessions, but she has been having a lot of fun with it and is recommending kickboxing for fitness and socialising.

Both parents are proud their children, who will be in the cornering them, have been selected and Arlene added: “All the kids are awesome, they are very talented and they all believe in each other, it’s a good family environment and they respect each other.”

There will be plenty of other bouts on the fight night when it goes ahead this Saturday with entry from 6.30pm for the first bell at 7pm with some first-time exhibition fights in kickboxing, Muay Thai and boxing.

IKMS coach John Miller has been training the two mums and speaking of the five youngsters who have been selected, IKMS coach John Miller said: “They’ve worked really hard and they all deserve it, especially the younger two, I know I am biased, but I think they are the best in the country.

“Keeva, she is only nine years old and she is absolutely awesome.”

Thanks go to Alloa Boxing Club for donating the ring to the event and the doctor for donating her time.