A FITNESS instructor is shaping up to show that his mind is every bit as agile as his body.

Mr Robert Carder, 23, is a finalist in the 1999 world memory championships being held at London's Olympia today and tomorrow.

After an extensive training programme, Oxfordshire's memory man can memorise nine packs of cards and up to 600 random numbers.

Mr Carder, of Rookery Close, Shippon, near Abingdon, will put his powers of recall to the test against some of the best memories in the world.

Twenty four finalists will face numerical challenges over two days including memorisation of binary and decimal numbers. They will also have to memorise poetry, names and faces and playing cards.

Mr Carder, who works at a health club in Newbury, said he began exercising his memory when he was ill. "I always had a good memory for sports trivia. Then when I was ill with glandular fever about a year ago I picked up one of my father's books about improving memory.

"Now I spend about an hour a day training my memory. I find it relaxing."

The memory championships are part of the Mind Sports Olympiad.

Mr Carder is up against the German and Czech Republic champions and the reigning world champion, Mr And! Bell, from West Sussex.

World records set at previous championships include 34.03 seconds for memorisation of a pack of cards and 1,620 decimal numbers in one hour.