MORE than 200 people have cheered on Tweed-based martial arts master Grant Ratcliffe as he created history at South Tweed on Saturday afternoon – completing a 100-bout challenge in just over five hours.
The event has raised in excess of $26,000 for the Tweed Heads Hospital Auxiliary to be used to buy equipment including three Dinemap blood pressure machines, a Glidescope PAEDs and adults and a birthing bed.
And while it was a major fund-raising challenge for the determined martial arts master it was the personal challenge that really kept him going.
Know as the Hundred Man MMA Kumite Challenge, it has been a dream of Grant’s for the past 20 years.
“I did it!” he said on Monday after recovering from Saturday’s gruelling challenge.
“No-one else has ever done it.
“I knew it was going to be to be tough,” he said, admitting once was enough.
“They were close to stopping it a couple of times in the 60th and then in the 87th round if I couldn’t get up on my own.”
However at around the 90-round mark Grant seemed to find more energy, coming home strongly to win the final 12 rounds. He finished the remarkable 100 two-minute fight feat with 38 wins, 42 losses and 20 draws.
He said everyone in martial arts circles thought it couldn’t be done.
“Some other people suggested I was just doing it for the publicity but it’s a challenge I’ve wanted to do for 21 years. I am 38 and I was fighting guys half my age,” Grant said.
“But this was a big sporting event – one of the Titans’ coaching staff suggested it was like playing five NRL games in one day.”
