Back in August a handful of brave volunteers, with little or no previous boxing experience, began training for their amateur debut in the ring. The would be warriors trained hard hitting the gym 3 or 4 times a week in order to improve their fitness and learn the pugilistic arts. Hours of dedication were required in preparation for 3 grueling rounds against a suitably matched opponent. The 5 matches took place in front of a sizeable crowd at Treasure Island on November 19th. It was not only a fantastic evening of entertainment, but the fighters also raised a sizeable purse for the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association. Adam Cockerill was the champion behind this charitable event.
“About 6 months ago a friend of mine, James Murray, told me he was going to attempt to run 100 miles around Grand Cayman. James’ idea was to raise money for the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association while creating awareness of the Diabetes epidemic here in Cayman. I suggested he would need a website to help promote his cause as it would help gain sponsorship as well as public involvement. As an employee of IT Outsource I spoke to my boss about donating the hosting fees and the domain name and from that www.acrazyidea.com was born. James wanted to raise the profile of an illness he believes does not currently receive the attention or the profile it deserves. Diabetes effects a significant number of Caymanians, and he felt that he could use his “Crazy Idea” to springboard a campaign to raise funds and educate the public of the Cayman Islands. He also wanted to encourage everyone and anyone to have their own ‘Crazy Idea’ and to get involved by running part of, or the entire InterTrust Cayman Islands Marathon which was held last weekend. I felt inspired by James and decided to sign up for the White Collar Fight Night, a challenge I had been eye balling up for a while – my ‘Crazy Idea’.”
Adam began training at Rogue Gym along with Nico Mellet, Alistair Macdonald, Geoff Baker,Robert Mahadeo, Floyd Moxam and Ryan Bloom, all of whom were also fighting on the night. “We all trained together for several months, gaining fitness and sparring with each other, learning technique,” says Adam, “ It was an amazing experience, and a real journey. It became an obsession, all I could think about were the moves I’d learnt, whether I’d done well in my last sparring session, how I could improve to give myself the best chance of beating my opponent.”
Lachie Hewitt and Chris Dinan, the owners of Rogue Gym and promoters of the Fight Night, agreed to donate CI $5 of each ticket sale to the CIDA. All of the fighters got behind the idea and worked hard to drive ticket sales for the night. In total, CI $2000 was rasied for the CIDA, a fantastic result for Rogue Gym, the fighters, James Murray’s “A Crazy Idea”, and of course, the Cayman Islands Diabetes Association.
James Murray along with Gerard Martinez completed their 100 mile run on November 26th. You can donate towards the CIDA through their website atwww.acrazyidea.com/donate.
