WHEN it comes to fitness, airwoman Jennifer Galley certainly passes the test.

The superfit army corporal has been beating the boys in a tough physical challenge in aid of the Help for Heroes charity.

The Tough Nut challenge involves a 7.8-mile run, 100 press-ups, 90 sit-ups and 90 squat-thrusts, all in under 90 minutes. She is the only woman to have completed the challenge.

By day, Cpl Galley is part of the administration staff at Kandahar Airfield, but off duty the 29-year-old, from Bolton, maintains an excellent fitness regime.

She said: “I try to train at least once a day, sometimes more. I am the only woman who has done Tough Nut and managed it in 81 minutes, which I was really pleased with considering the heat out here.”

Cpl Galley joined the RAF in 2003 after a spell in the British Army, where she served in Kosovo during the Balkans Campaign.

Cpl Galley is normally based at RAF Marham in Norfolk and lives in Sleaford but is presently employed in the Personnel Support Branch in Kandahar looking after personnel within the 904 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW).

She said: “This is a particularly busy, satisfying and rewarding job that has a direct impact on everyone’s morale.

"We work anything up to 15 hours a day, every day of the week, where I am responsible for arranging flights home, sorting personal mail and getting everyone home at the end of their tour.

“There have also been some duties that have pushed me well outside my comfort zone.

"One of them involved guarding suspected Taliban prisoners 12 hours a day for a week.

"As women are treated as second-rate citizens out here I found this very intimidating, especially as one of the detainees was over 6 foot tall.

“I have learnt so much since I have been here and have found this a real eye-opener.”

* Click on the link below for more stories by Nafeesa Shan in Afghanistan.