STUDENTS have organised a fitness challenge in memory of a young sports lover who was murdered.

It is almost three years since Northumbria University student Sara Cameron, 23, was killed as she made her way home from a party.

Finnish-born Sara's body was found in a field in Earsdon, near Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, on Good Friday, April 21, 2000.

She had been attacked as she walked home from Shiremoor Metro station and suffocated - days before she was due to fly to Australia to sit on the Sydney Olympic Committee as part of her university course.

Five students at Northumbria, who are studying for the same sports managment degree as Sara, have organised Sunday's Sara Cameron Memorial Fitness Challenge.

The event follows on from an inaugural competition last year with money raised going into a fund created in Sara's name which helps sponsor a foreign student for a year on the sport management course.

Students are also keen to play their part in raising awareness about Sara's murder, which remains unsolved.

Joint organiser Andy Mitchelmore said: "She was a very outgoing person with sport being her main passion.

"It was felt that a fitness challenge would be an ideal way to remember her."

The event will involve teams of six - three men and three women - competing against the clock on a course of 12 exercises. They will be tested for their strength, endurance, agility and speed.

The challenge will be held at the university's Coach Lane sports facility, in Newcastle, from 10am, on Sunday.

For more information log on to the website www.saracameron.co.uk.

Anyone with information about Sara's murder is asked to contact police on 0191-214 6555 extension 63101 or 63105.