The Skye Muay Thai Club hosted an interclub event at their premises in Portree on Saturday with competitors from Lewis, Inverness and England travelling to the island to take part.
The event attracted members from the Wicker Camp in Sheffield, the Eilean Siar Muay Thai club in Stornoway, Highlands Martial Arts in Inverness, as well as regulars from the Skye Muay Thai Club based at the Skye Camanachd Club, with each participant taking part in two very competitive bouts of technical Muay Thai.
Across the course of the day, Skye Muay Thai Club runner Ali Simpson and fellow instructors Damon Driver and Arriayn Leighton undertook and completed an exhaustive goal of 100 three-minute rounds of padwork to raise funds for the club.
Speaking to the Free Press, Mr Simpson said: “Me, Damon and Arriayn each completed 100 three-minute rounds of padwork – which took us eight hours. We raised just over £1000 in sponsorship.
“We also raised just under £300 with our raffle.”
He added: “Wicker Camp – the gym where I started training back in 1992 – also donated £200 which they had raised for us at a sparring event they held.
“This means that on the day we raised a total of £1500 for the club which will be used to help pay for the boxing ring and provide more equipment for training.”
Back in January the Free Press reported on the opening of the Skye Muay Thai Club which is a non-profit community club focusing on Muay Thai and self-defence.
Originally a battlefield martial art dating back thousands of years, Muay Thai is known as ‘the Art of Eight Limbs’ and is the national sport of Thailand.
For more information on the Skye Muay Thai Club, which includes women-only classes taught by instructor Arriayn Leighton – who was ranked fourth in Scotland last year – you can visit the Skye Muay Thai Facebook page.
Article and images by Adam Gordon.